Anteaters [1] ( lat. Vermilingua ) is a suborder of edentulous mammals that includes two families of anteaters. The suborder includes 3 modern generations of anteaters: giant anteaters , tamandua and dwarf anteaters , as well as 3 extinct genera [2] . The evolutionary branch of anteaters was isolated about 30 million years ago [3] .
| Anteaters |
Giant anteater |
| Scientific classification |
|---|
| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
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| International scientific name |
|---|
Vermilingua Illiger , 1811 |
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Content
Although the appearance of all genera of anteaters has common features (an elongated body with a long tail, an elongated skull, claws large relative to the size of the body), their sizes differ by an order of magnitude from each other. If the mass of an adult giant anteater can be about 40 kg (with a body length of 110–130 cm and a tail length of 95 cm), the mass of tamandua varies in the range of 4–5 kg (with a body length of 54–88 cm and a tail length of 40–49 cm), and the mass of an adult dwarf anteater barely reaches 400 g (with a body length of 16-20 cm and a tail length of 18 cm).
Representatives of all the clans of the anteater suborder live in central and southern America , with the exception of tamandua , whose range in the north ends with the south of Colombia .
They feed on small insects. All anteaters feed on ants, giant anteaters and tamandua eat termites, which has not yet been shown for dwarf anteaters. Giant and dwarf anteaters are mainly nocturnal, tamandua can be active both at night and during the day. Giant anteaters do not know how to climb trees and lead an exclusively terrestrial way of life, tamandua lead a mixed terrestrial-tree way of life, and dwarf anteaters live exclusively on trees.
Females of all types of anteaters usually have one cub per pregnancy. All anteaters carry their cubs on their backs, and if the giant anteaters and tamandua cubs are usually females, then both parents take part in carrying the cubs of dwarf anteaters [4] .
- ↑ Fundamentals of Paleontology: A Handbook for Paleontologists and Geologists of the USSR: in 15 volumes / chap. ed. Yu. A. Orlov . - M .: Gosgeoltekhizdat, 1963. - T. 13: Mammals / ed. V.I.Gromova. - S. 112, 114 .-- 423 p. - 3000 copies.
- ↑ Miranda et al., 2017 , p. 688.
- ↑ Miranda et al., 2017 , p. 675.
- ↑ Bartoz S., Cerda A. Silky Anteater (neopr.) . Benedictine University (2009). Date of treatment July 14, 2019.