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Anteaters
	Northern Tamandua; (Tamandua mexicana)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia;
Phylum:	Chordata;
Class:	Mammalia;
Superorder:	Xenarthra;
Order:	Pilosa;
Suborder:	Vermilingua; Illiger, 1811
Families
	Cyclopedidae; Myrmecophagidae

For other uses, see Anteater (disambiguation).

Anteaters are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua^[1] commonly known for eating ants and termites.^[2] Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa. The name "anteater" is also colloquially applied to the unrelated aardvark, numbat, echidna, and pangolin.

Species include the Giant Anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla, about 1.8 m (6 ft) long including the tail; the Silky Anteater Cyclopes didactylus, about 35 cm (14 in.) long; the Southern Tamandua or Collared Anteater Tamandua tetradactyla, about 1.2 m (4 ft) long; and the Northern Tamandua Tamandua mexicana of similar dimensions.

[edit] Classification

Order Pilosa

Suborder Folivora (sloths)
Suborder Vermilingua (Anteaters)
- Family Cyclopedidae
  - Genus Cyclopes
    - Silky Anteater (Cyclopes didactylus)
  - Genus Palaeomyrmidon (fossil^{[verification needed]})
- Family Myrmecophagidae
  - Genus Myrmecophaga
    - Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)
  - Genus Neotamandua (fossil^{[verification needed]})
  - Genus Tamandua
    - Northern Tamandua (Tamandua mexicana)
    - Southern Tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla)
  - Genus Protamandua (fossil^{[verification needed]})

The Anteaters are more closely related to the armadillos than they are to any other group of mammals. There are three genera still living: the Giant Anteater, the Silky Anteater, and the Northern and Southern carnivore anteaters. There are also several extinct genera.

[edit] Evolution

Anteaters are one of the surviving families of mammals that occupied South America while it was geographically isolated from an invasion of animals from North America.

At one time, it was assumed that anteaters were related to aardvarks and pangolins because of their physical similarities to those animals, but it has since been determined that these similarities are not a sign of a common ancestor, but of convergent evolution. This is most evident through their powerful digging forearms and long, toothless tube-like snouts and tongues in order to make a living by raiding termite mounds. This similarity is the reason aardvarks are also commonly called "anteaters"; the pangolin has been called the "scaly anteater"; and the word "antbear" is a common term for both the aardvark and the giant anteater.