| | MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-05) |
 | | Phylogenetic analyses confirm the orders monophyly and that of its three major lineages: armadillos (Cingulata), anteaters (Vermilingua), and sloths ("Tardigrada", renamed in "Folivora"). |
 | | This study also strongly supported the grouping of hairy xenarthrans (anteaters and sloths) into the clade Pilosa, to the exclusion of armadillos (Cingulata). |
 | | They also questioned the placement of the purported fossil anteater (Eurotamandua) from the Middle Eocene of Europe, with the Vermilingua, and instead suggested the independent and convergent evolution of this enigmatic taxon. |
| www.isem.univ-montp2.fr /PPP/PM/RES/Phylo/Xen/@Xenarthra.php (1076 words) |