Classification
The anteaters are more closely related to the sloths than they are to any other group of mammals. Their next closest relations are armadillos. Three genera are still living: the giant and the silky anteaters, and the northern and southern tamanduas, and several genera are extinct.
A giant anteater (top), a silky anteater, and a southern tamandua |
Order Pilosa
- Suborder Folivora (sloths)
- Suborder Vermilingua (anteaters)
- Family Cyclopedidae
- Genus Cyclopes
- Silky anteater (C. didactylus)
- Genus †Palaeomyrmidon (Rovereto 1914)
- Genus Cyclopes
- Family Myrmecophagidae
- Genus Myrmecophaga
- Giant anteater (M. tridactyla)
- Genus †Neotamandua (Rovereto 1914)
- Genus Tamandua
- Northern tamandua (T. mexicana)
- Southern tamandua (T. tetradactyla)
- Genus †Protamandua (Ameghino 1904)
- Genus Myrmecophaga
- Family Cyclopedidae
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