''Ernanodon'' ("a sprout of toothless animals") is an extinct genus of placental mammal from extinct family Ernanodontidae within extinct order

Palaeanodonta Palaeanodonta ("ancient toothless animals") is an extinct clade of stem-pangolins. They were insectivorous (Myrmecophagy, myrmecophagous), possibly fossorial, and lived from the middle Paleocene to early Oligocene in North America, Europe and Asi ...

, that lived from the middle to late

Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

( Nongshan Formation) and

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Characteristics of taxa and history of classification

''Ernanodon antelios'' was a relatively small animal about in length, not including the tail. When it was first discovered and examined, it was thought to be a primitive

anteater Anteaters are the four extant mammal species in the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue"), commonly known for eating ants and termites. The individual species have other names in English and other languages. Together with sloths, they ar ...

. It and '' Eurotamandua'' of

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

helped to support a now-abandoned hypothesis that there was movement between the faunas of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

(the homeland of anteaters and other

xenarthra Xenarthra (; from Ancient Greek ξένος, xénos, "foreign, alien" + ἄρθρον, árthron, "joint") is a superorder and major clade of placental mammals native to the Americas. There are 31 living species: the anteaters, tree sloths, and ...

ns), and the faunas of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, by way of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. This was further supported by the alleged European Phorusrhacid ''

Strigogyps ''Strigogyps'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric bird from the Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene of France and Germany. It was probably around the size of a large chicken or a guan, weighing not quite . Apparently, as indicated by the ratio of l ...

'', also of Eocene Germany. The view of ''E. antelios'' being an anteater has been discarded, and the idea that there was any extensive Paleocene faunal interchange with South America has been rethought due to ''Eurotamandua'' being now regarded as a scaleless relative of the modern-day

pangolin Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', '' Phataginus'', and '' Smutsia''. ''Manis'' comprises four species found in Asia, while ' ...

. ''E. antelios''' placement within Xenarthra is further questioned because it lacks the distinctive joints that characterize Xenarthra, the same reason why ''Eurotamandua'' is no longer regarded as a xenarthran. Recent studies from new remains found in Late Paleocene

n strata have led to the assessment that ''E. antelios'' is closely related to genus '' Metacheiromys'' within the order Palaeanodonta, which in the study, was reaffirmed to be the sister taxon of

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Pholidota (the

s).

Phylogenetic tree

The phylogenetic relationships of genus ''Ernanodon'' is shown in the following cladogram:

References

Bibliography

* * * Palaeanodonta Paleocene mammals of Asia Paleogene China Fossils of China Fossil taxa described in 1979 {{paleo-mammal-stub

Characteristics of taxa and history of classification

Phylogenetic tree

See also

References

Bibliography