Neotamandua

Neotamandua is an extinct genus of anteaters that lived in the Miocene to Pliocene in South America.

Neotamandua
Temporal range: Mid Miocene-Late Pliocene (Laventan-Chapadmalalan)
~13.8–3.0 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Pilosa
Family: Myrmecophagidae
Genus: †Neotamandua
Rovereto 1914
Species
  • N. borealis Hirschfeld 1976
  • N. conspicua Rovereto 1914[1]
  • N. greslebini Kraglievich 1940
  • N. magna Ameghino 1919

Taxonomy

Their fossils have been found in the Miocene Collón Cura Formation of Argentina,[2] the Honda Group at La Venta in Colombia and the Pliocene Araucano Formation in Argentina.[3] 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 very similar to Myrmecophaga, which would mean Neotamandua may be congeneric with Myrmecophaga.[2]

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. "Neotamandua". Paleontology Database. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  3. Gaudin, T.J. & Branham, D.G. (1998). "The Phylogeny of the Myrmecophagidae (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Vermilingua) and the Relationship of Eurotamandua to Vermilingua" (PDF). Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 5 (3): 248. doi:10.1023/a:1020512529767. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  4. Hirschfeld, S.E. (1976). "A New Fossil Anteater ( Edentata , Mammalia ) from Colombia , S . A . and Evolution of the Vermilingua". Journal of Paleontology. 50 (3). JSTOR 1303522/.
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