Mammals of the order Pholidota
PangolinTemporal range:
47.8–0 Ma Middle
Eocene – present
Indian pangolin
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Mirorder:
Ferae
Clade :
Pholidotamorpha
Order:
Pholidota Weber , 1904
Subgroups
Ranges of living species
Synonyms
Afredentata Szalay & Schrenk, 1994 [ 1]
Lepidota Lane, 1910 [ 2]
Manides Gervais, 1854
Maniformes Zagorodniuk, 2008 [ 3]
Manitheria Haeckel, 1895 [ 4]
Neomanida Haeckel, 1895
Nomarthra Cope, 1889 [ 5]
Pholidotheria Haeckel, 1895
Pholidotiformes Kinman, 1994 [ 6]
Pholidotina Pearse, 1936 [ 7]
Repentia Newman, 1843 [ 8]
Scutata Murray, 1866 [ 9]
Squamata Huxley, 1872 [ 10]
Squamigera Gill, 1910 [ 11]
Squamosa Haeckel, 1895
Pangolins , sometimes known as scaly anteaters ,[ 12] are mammals of the order Pholidota (). 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] These species range in size from 30 to 100 cm (12 to 39 in). Several extinct pangolin species are also known. In September 2023, nine species were reported.[ 15]
Pangolins have large, protective keratin scales, similar in material to fingernails and toenails, covering their skin; they are the only known mammals with this feature. Depending on the species, they live in hollow trees or burrows . Pangolins are nocturnal , and their diet consists of mainly ants and termites , which they capture using their long tongues. They tend to be solitary animals, meeting only to mate and produce a litter of one to three offspring, which they raise for about two years. Pangolins superficially resemble armadillos , though the two are not closely related; they have merely undergone convergent evolution .
Pangolins are threatened by poaching (for their meat and scales, which are used in traditional medicine [ 16] [ 17] ) and heavy deforestation of their natural habitats, and are the most trafficked mammals in the world.[ 18] As of January 2020[update] , there are eight species of pangolin whose conservation status is listed in the threatened tier. Three (Manis culionensis , M. pentadactyla and M. javanica ) are critically endangered, three (Phataginus tricuspis , Manis crassicaudata and Smutsia gigantea ) are endangered and two (Phataginus tetradactyla and Smutsia temminckii ) are vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature .[ 19]
^ "Abstracts of Papers" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 14 : 1–58. 1994. Bibcode :1994JVPal..14S...1. . doi :10.1080/02724634.1994.10011592 .
^ Lane, Henry Higgins (1910) "A corrected classification of the edentates." Science, new ser., vol. 31, pp. 913-914
^ Zagorodniuk, I. (2008). "Scientific names of mammal orders: from descriptive to uniform" . Visnyk of Lviv University . Biology (48): 33–43.
^ Haeckel, Ernst (1895). Systematische Phylogenie: Wirbelthiere (in German). Vol. T.3. Berlin: G. Reimer.
^ Cope, E. D. (1889). "The Edentata of North America". American Naturalist . 23 (272): 657–664. doi :10.1086/274985 . S2CID 83633905 .
^ Kenneth E. Kinman (1994) "The Kinman System: Toward a Stable Cladisto-Eclectic Classification of Organisms: Living and Extinct, 48 Phyla, 269 Classes, 1,719 Orders", Hays, Kan. (P. O. Box 1377, Hays 67601), 88 pages
^ Pearse, Arthur Sperry (1936). Zoological names. A list of phyla, classes, and orders, prepared for section F, American Association for the Advancement of Science . Duke University Press. p. 24.
^ Edward Newman (1843) "The Zoologist: a monthly journal of natural history. (Vol. 1)" , London, J. Van Voorst
^ Murray, Andrew (1866) "The geographic distribution of mammals" , London, Day and Son, Ltd., XVI + 420 pp., 101 maps
^ Huxley, Thomas Henry (1872) "A manual of the anatomy of vertebrated animals" , New York, d, Appleton and Co., 431 pp.
^ Gill, Theo. (1910). "Classification of the Edentates" . Science . 32 (810): 56. doi :10.1126/science.32.810.56.a . PMID 17745887 . S2CID 239573422 .
^ Thomas, Oldfield ; Lydekker, Richard (1911). "Pangolin" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).
^ Schlitter, Duane A. (2005). Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore, Maryland, USA: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 530. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0 .
^ Gaudin, Timothy (28 August 2009). "The Phylogeny of Living and Extinct Pangolins (Mammalia, Pholidota) and Associated Taxa: A Morphology Based Analysis" (PDF) . Journal of Mammalian Evolution . 16 (4). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer Science+Business Media : 235–305. doi :10.1007/s10914-009-9119-9 . S2CID 1773698 . Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015 .
^ Incorvala, Darren (25 September 2023). "A Mystery Species Was Discovered in Trafficked Pangolin Scales - Researchers believed there were eight species of the strange mammals. But a ninth was identified genetically, although no one knew it was a separate species in the wild" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on 25 September 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2023 .
^ D'Cruze, Neil; Assou, Délagnon; Coulthard, Emma; Norrey, John; Megson, David; Macdonald, David W.; Harrington, Lauren A.; Ronfot, Delphine; Segniagbeto, Gabriel H.; Auliya, Mark (5 November 2020). "Snake oil and pangolin scales: insights into wild animal use at "Marché des Fétiches" traditional medicine market, Togo" . Nature Conservation . 39 : 45–71. doi :10.3897/natureconservation.39.47879 . ISSN 1314-3301 . S2CID 218663851 .
^ "Chinese Medicine and the Pangolin" . Nature . 141 (3558): 72. 1 January 1938. Bibcode :1938Natur.141R..72. . doi :10.1038/141072b0 .
^ Goode, Emilia (31 March 2015). "A Struggle to Save the Scaly Pangolin" . The New York Times . New York City. Retrieved 1 May 2016 .
^ "Manidae Family search" . IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . IUCN . Retrieved 30 January 2020 .