Ernanodon

Ernanodon ("a sprout of toothless animals") is an extinct genus of placental mammal from extinct family Ernanodontidae within extinct order Palaeanodonta, that lived from the middle to late Paleocene in China (Nongshan Formation)[2] and Mongolia.[3]

Ernanodon
Temporal range: middle to late Paleocene
Reconstructed skeleton at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan
Reconstruction of Ernanodon antelios
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Palaeanodonta
Family: †Ernanodontidae
Genus: †Ernanodon
Ding, 1979[1]
Type species
†Ernanodon antelios
Ding, 1979

Characteristics of taxa and history of classification

Ernanodon antelios was a relatively small animal about 50 centimetres (20 in) in length, not including the tail.[4] When it was first discovered and examined, it was thought to be a primitive anteater. It and Eurotamandua of Eocene Germany helped to support a now-abandoned hypothesis that there was movement between the faunas of South America (the homeland of anteaters and other Xenarthrans), and the faunas of Europe and Asia, by way of North America.[5] This was further supported by the alleged European Phorusrhacid Strigogyps, 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, and the various European Phorusracids being reidentified as more primitive members of Cariamae.

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 Mongolian 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 Pholidota (the pangolins).[3]

Phylogenetic tree

The phylogenetic relationships of genus Ernanodon is shown in the following cladogram:[6][7][3]

 Ferae 

Pan-Carnivora

 Pholidotamorpha 

Pholidota (sensu stricto)

 †Palaeanodonta 

†Escavadodontidae

 ? 

†Melaniella

†Amelotabes

†Epoicotheriidae

†Epoicotherium

†Molaetherium

†Xenocranium

†Epoicotheriinae

†Tetrapassalus

†Dipassalus

†Alocodontulum

†Auroratherium

†Pentapassalus

†Tubulodon

 ? 

†Arcticanodon

†Propalaeanodontinae

†Mylanodon

†Brachianodon

†Palaeanodon

†Metacheiromyinae 

†Metacheiromys

 †Ernanodontidae 
 ? 

†Asiabradypus

 †Ernanodon 

†Ernanodon antelios

 (Pholidota sensu lato) 
†Epoicotherium/Xenocranium clade

See also

References
  1. S. Ding (1979.) "A new edentate from the Paleocene of Guandong." Vertebrata PalAsiatica 17:57-64
  2. S.-Y. Ding (1987.) "A Paleocene edentate from the Nanxiong Basin, Guangdong." Palaeontologia Sinica 173:1-118
  3. Kondrashov, Peter; Agadjanian, Alexandre K (2012). "A nearly complete skeleton of Ernanodon (Mammalia, Palaeanodonta) from Mongolia: morphofunctional analysis". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (5): 983–1001. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.694319. S2CID 86059673.
  4. Kemp, TS (2005). The origin and evolution of mammals. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198507604.
  5. Agusti, Jordi; Antón, Mauricio (2002). Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231116404. OCLC 488732612.
  6. Kenneth D. Rose (2008). "Palaeanodonta and Pholidota". In Janis, Christine M; Gunnell, Gregg F; Uhen, Mark D (eds.). 9 - Palaeanodonta and Pholidota. pp. 135–146. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511541438.010. ISBN 9780511541438.
  7. Gaudin, Timothy (2009). "The Phylogeny of Living and Extinct Pangolins (Mammalia, Pholidota) and Associated Taxa: A Morphology Based Analysis" (PDF). Journal of Mammalian Evolution. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer Science+Business Media. 16 (4): 235–305. doi:10.1007/s10914-009-9119-9. S2CID 1773698. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2020-08-28.

Bibliography
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