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GIANT ANTEATER ( Myrmecophaga tridactyla ): SPECIES ACCOUNTS. Physical characteristics: Giant anteaters range in length from 5 feet, 7 inches to 9.1 feet (174 to 280 centimeters). That length includes tails, which are from 25 to 35 inches (64 to 90 centimeters) long. Tail fur is about 16 inches (40.6 centimeters) long.
Biology. The superorder Xenarthra consists of 31 extant species of armadillos (Cingulata—Dasypodidae), sloths (Pilosa—Folivora: Bradypodidae and Megalonychidae), and anteaters (Pilosa—Vermilingua: Myrmecophagidae and Cyclopedidae), which are restricted to the New World.
Myrmecophagidae is the only member of the infraorder Vermilingua, which means worm-tongue. There are three genera and four species. Anteaters were once thought to be closely related to sloths.
Physical Description. Giant anteaters are quite distinctive morphologically, they are the largest of the anteater species. The snout is long (up to 45 cm in length) and the skull is streamlined with small eyes and ears. The tail is large and bushy and is nearly as long as the body. Head and body length measures 1,000 to ...
Family: Myrmecophagidae description With a head-body length of 1–1.4 m, a tail of 60–90 cm and a weight of 22–45 kg, this is the largest anteater species.
Abstract. A right metacarpal III represents the first North American record of the giant anteater ( Myrmecophaga tridactyla ). Recovered in northwestern Sonora, Mexico, with a rich vertebrate fauna of early Pleistocene (Irvingtonian) age, it belongs to a cohort of large mammals that dispersed from South America to North America along a savanna ...
42 Citations. 24 Altmetric. 4 Mentions. Explore all metrics. Abstract. A cladistic investigation of the phylogenetic relationships among the three extant anteater genera and the three undoubted extinct myrmecophagid genera is performed based upon osteological characteristics of the skull and postcranial skeleton.
