Neotamandua

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Neotamandua
Temporal range: Miocene - Pliocene
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Superorder: Xenarthra
Order: Pilosa
Suborder: Vermilingua
Family: Myrmecophagidae
Rafinesque 1815
Genus: Neotamandua
Rovereto, 1914
species

Neotamandua is an extinct genus of anteaters that lived in the Miocene to Pliocene in South America. Their fossils have been found in the La Venta fauna of Colombia and the Pliocene Araucano Formation in Argentina.[2] Its closest living relatives are the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and tamanduas (genus Tamandua).[3][2] The species Neotamandua borealis was suggested to be an ancestor of the giant anteater.[4] Patterson (1992) suggested the Neotamandua fossils are so similar to Myrmecophaga and Neotamandua may be congeneric with Myrmecophaga.[3]

References

  1. Rovereto, Cayetano. 1914. Los estratos Araucanos y sus fósiles. Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Buenos Aires 25: 1-247.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Gaudin, T.J. & Branham, D.G. (1998). "The Phylogeny of the Myrmecophagidae (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Vermilingua) and the Relationship of Eurotamandua to Vermilingua". Journal of Mammalian Evolution 5 (3): 248. Retrieved 2012-07-23. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Neotamandua". Paleontology Database. Retrieved 2012-07-23. 
  4. Hirschfeld, S.E. (1976). "A New Fossil Anteater ( Edentata , Mammalia ) from Colombia , S . A . and Evolution of the Vermilingua". Evolution 50 (3). Retrieved 2012-07-23. 
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.