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Orycteropodidae:
The Aardvark is the only surviving member of the family Orycteropodidae and of the order Tubulidentata. The Aardvark was originally placed in the same order as the South American anteaters because of superficial similarities which, it is now known, are the result of convergent evolution, not common ancestry. For the same reason, Aardvarks bear a striking first-glance resemblance to the marsupial bandicoots, bilbies, and numbats of Australasia, which are not placental mammals at all. The Aardvark is now in its own genus, Orycteropus. The oldest known Tubulidentata fossils have been found in Kenya and date to the early Miocene. Although the relationships of Tubulidentata are unknown, they are probably ungulates. They spread to Europe and southern Asia during the later Miocene and early Pliocene periods. Two other genera of the family Orycteropodidae are known besides the extant one: Leptorycteropus and Myorycteropus. A genus from Madagascar called Plesiorycteropus may be related to the Aardvark. |
