Das Erdferkel (Orycteropus afer) ist eine Säugetierart und stellt den alleinigen rezenten Vertreter der Gattung Orycteropus, der Familie der Orycteropodidae und der Ordnung der Tubulidentata (Röhrenzähner) dar. Innerhalb der Systematik der heutigen Höheren Säugetiere sind die Röhrenzähner somit die einzige Ordnung. Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Naming and taxonomy [ ] Naming [ ] The aardvark is sometimes colloquially called 'African ant bear', 'anteater' (not to be confused with the ), or the 'Cape anteater' after the. The name 'aardvark' ( Afrikaans pronunciation: ) comes from earlier (erdvark) and means 'earth ' or 'ground pig' ( aarde: earth/ground, vark: pig), because of its burrowing habits (similar origin to the name ). The name Orycteropus means burrowing foot, and the name afer refers to Africa. The name of the aardvarks's order, Tubulidentata, comes from the tubule-style teeth. Taxonomy [ ] The aardvark is not closely related to the pig; rather, it is the sole extant representative of the obscure mammalian, in which it is usually considered to form one variable species of the genus, the sole surviving genus in the family. The aardvark is not closely related to the, despite sharing some characteristics and a superficial resemblance. The similarities are based on. The closest living relatives of the aardvark are the, and. Along with the,,, and their extinct relatives, these animals form the superorder. Studies of the brain have shown the similarities with, and given the clade's status as a it may mean some species traditionally classified as 'condylarths' are actually stem-aardvarks. [ ] Evolutionary history [ ] Based on fossils, Bryan Patterson has concluded that early relatives of the aardvark appeared in around the end of the. The, a mysterious clade of mammals with uncertain affinities, may actually be stem-aardvarks, either as a sister clade to or as a grade leading to true tubulidentates. The first unambiguous tubulidentate was probably from deposits. The earliest example from the genus was the found in in deposits from the middle Miocene, with an equally aged version found in Kenya. Fossils from the aardvark have been dated to 5 million years, and have been located throughout and the. The mysterious Pleistocene from was originally thought to be a tubulidentate that was descended from ancestors that entered the island during the. However, a number of subtle anatomical differences coupled with recent molecular evidence now lead researchers to believe that Plesiorycteropus is a relative of golden moles and tenrecs that achieved an aardvark-like appearance and ecological niche through convergent evolution. Subspecies [ ] The aardvark has seventeen poorly defined subspecies listed: • Orycteropus afer afer • O. Adametzi Grote, 1921 • O.
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