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Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, [12] are mammals of the order Pholidota (/ f ɒ l ɪ ˈ d oʊ t ə /). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: Manis, Phataginus, and Smutsia. [13] Manis comprises four species found in Asia, while Phataginus and Smutsia include two species each, all found in sub-Saharan Africa. [14]
They are distributed throughout Africa, the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia, and are usually found in habitats such as savannas, forests, grasslands and shrublands. Pholidotans range in size from the giant pangolin, at 30 kg (66 lb) and 68 cm (27 in) in length, to the tree pangolin, at only 2.3 kg (5.1 lb) and 34 cm (13 in) in length.
All species of living pangolin had been assigned to the genus Manis until the late 2000s, when research prompted the splitting of extant pangolins into three genera: Manis, Phataginus, and Smutsia. [ 5 ] [ 9 ]
[3] [4] [5] In 2009, pangolins and palaeanodonts were together placed within the clade Pholidotamorpha. [1] A 2012 study of new remains, found in Late Paleocene Mongolian strata , have led to the assessment that extinct genus Ernanodon is closely-related to another extinct genus, Metacheiromys , and is a member of the extinct order Palaeanodonta .
Paleontologists have found matching dinosaur footprints on different continents 3,700 miles — and an ocean — apart. Preserved in mud and silt in what’s now Brazil and Cameroon, the 260 ...
The giant pangolin is the largest of all pangolin species. While its average mass has not been measured, one specimen was found to weigh between 30 kg (66 lb) and 40 kg (88 lb). [9] Males are larger than females, with male body lengths about 137 cm (54 in) to 180 cm (71 in) and females about 112.5 cm (44.3 in) to 136.5 cm (53.7 in). [9]
The remarkably well-preserved skull of a gigantic pliosaur, a prehistoric sea monster, has been discovered on a beach in the county of Dorset in southern England, and it could reveal secrets about ...
Deep underwater off the coast of Japan, a sea creature with hundreds of tentacles swayed in the current. Unbeknownst to the rust-colored animal, it was about to be discovered as a new species.