History of taxonomy

In the past both orders, Pholidota and Palaeanodonta, were formerly classified with various other orders of ant-eating mammals, most notably Xenarthra (armadillos, sloths and true anteaters) which they superficially resemble. Some palaeontologists in past placed pangolins and palaeanodonts as a suborder "Pholidota" in order Cimolesta, alongside the extinct family Ernanodontidae as a separate suborder Ernanodonta near it, though this idea has fallen out of favor since it was determined that cimolestids were not placental mammals.^[2]

However, newer genetic evidence indicates the closest living relatives to order Pholidota are the members of order Carnivora, and together they form the mirorder Ferae.^[3][4][5] In 2009, pangolins and palaeanodonts were together placed within clade Pholidotamorpha.^[1] A 2012 study from new remains found in Late Paleocene Mongolian strata have led to the assessment that extinct genus Ernanodon is closely related to extinct genus Metacheiromys and being a member of the extinct order Palaeanodonta.^[6]

Classification

• Clade: Pholidotamorpha (Gaudin, 2009)
  • Order: Pholidota (Weber, 1904) (pangolins)
    • Suborder: Eupholidota (Gaudin, 2009) (true pangolins)
    • Family: †Eurotamanduidae (Szalay & Schrenk, 1994)
    • Genus: †Euromanis (Gaudin, 2009)
    • Incertae sedis
      • †Pholidota sp. [BC 16’08] (Pickford, 2008)
  • Order: †Palaeanodonta (Matthew, 1918) (stem-pangolins)
    • Family: †Epoicotheriidae ^{(paraphyletic family)} (Simpson, 1927)
    • Family: †Ernanodontidae (Ding, 1979)
    • Family: †Escavadodontidae (Rose & Lucas, 2000)
    • Family: †Metacheiromyidae ^{(paraphyletic family)} (Wortman, 1903)
    • Incertae sedis:
      • Genus: †Arcticanodon (Rose, 2004)
      • Genus: †Melaniella (Fox, 1984)

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of clade Pholidotamorpha are shown in the following cladogram:^{[7][8][1][6][9][10][11]}