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The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla''), also known as the ant bear, is a large insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters and is classified with sloths in the order Pilosa. This species is mostly terrestrial, in contrast to other living anteaters and sloths, which are arboreal or semiarboreal. The giant anteater is the largest of its family, in length, with weights of for males and for females. It is recognizable by its elongated snout, bushy tail, long fore claws, and distinctively colored pelage. The giant anteater can be found in multiple habitats, including grassland and rainforest. It forages in open areas and rests in more forested habitats. It feeds primarily on ants and termites, using its fore claws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them. Though giant anteaters live in overlapping home ranges, they are mostly solitary except during mother-offspring relationships, aggressive interactions between males, and when mating. Mother anteaters carry their offspring on their backs until weaning them. The giant anteater is listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It has been extirpated from many parts of its former range, including nearly all of Central America. Threats to its survival include habitat destruction, fire, and poaching for fur and bushmeat, although some anteaters inhabit protected areas. With its distinctive appearance and habits, the anteater has been featured in pre-Columbian myths and folktales, as well as modern popular culture. ==Taxonomy and phylogeny== The giant anteater got its binomial name from Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Its generic name, ''Myrmecophaga'', and specific name, ''tridactyla'', are both Greek, meaning "anteater" and "three fingers", respectively. ''Myrmecophaga jubata'' was used as a synonym. Three subspecies have been tentatively proposed: ''M. t. tridactyla'' (ranging from Venezuela and the Guianas to northern Argentina), ''M. t. centralis'' (native to Central America, northwestern Colombia, and northern Ecuador), and ''M. t. artata'' (native to northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela). The giant anteater is grouped with the semiarboreal northern and southern tamanduas in the family Myrmecophagidae. Together with the family Cyclopedidae, whose only extant member is the arboreal silky anteater, the two families comprise the suborder Vermilingua. }} |label2=Armadillos |2= |2= }} }} }} }} }} }} Anteaters and sloths belong to order Pilosa and share superorder Xenarthra with the Cingulata (whose only extant members are armadillos). The two orders of Xenarthra split 66 million years ago (Mya) during the Late Cretaceous epoch. Anteaters and sloths diverged around 55 Mya, between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. The ''Cyclopes'' lineage emerged around 30 Mya in the Oligocene epoch, while the ''Myrmecophaga'' and ''Tamandua'' lineages split 10 Mya in the Late Miocene subepoch. During most of the Cenozoic era, anteaters were confined to South America, which was formerly an island continent. Following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 3 Mya, anteaters of all three extant genera invaded Central America as part of the Great American Interchange.〔 The fossil record for anteaters is generally sparse. Some known fossils include the Pliocene genus ''Palaeomyrmidon'', a close relative to the silky anteater, ''Protamandua'', the sister taxon to the clade that includes the giant anteater and the tamanduas from the Miocene, and ''Neotamandua'', a sister taxon to ''Myrmecophaga''. ''Protamandua'' was larger than the silky anteater, but smaller than a tamandua, while ''Neotamandua'' was larger, falling somewhere between a tamandua and a giant anteater. ''Protamandua'' did not appear to have feet specialized for terrestrial or arboreal locomotion, but it may have had a prehensile tail. ''Neotamandua'', though, is unlikely to have had a prehensile tail and its feet were intermediate in form between those of the tamanduas and the giant anteater.〔 The species ''Neotamandua borealis'' was suggested to be an ancestor of the latter. The giant anteater is the most terrestrial of the living anteater species. Its ancestors may originally have been adapted to arboreal life;〔 the transition to life on the ground could have been aided by the expansion of open habitats such as savanna in South America and the availability there of colonial insects, such as termites, that provided a larger potential food source. Both the giant anteater and the southern tamandua are well represented in the fossil record of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「giant anteater」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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