xenarthran

plural xenarthrans

1. biologyAny mammal of the superorder Xenarthra, of the Americas; an anteater, armadillo or sloth.

   Only four xenarthran families are extant today, providing little indication of the past richness of the order.

   2008, Christine Argot, “3: Changing Views in Paleontology: The Story of a Giant (Megatherium, Xenarthra)”, in Eric J. Sargis, Marian Dagosto, editors, Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology: A Tribute to Frederick S. Szalay, page 37

   3 more examples

   Elephant-shrews, xenarthrans, hystricognathous rodents, cetaceans, some pinnipeds, and primates depart sharply from this trend, however.

   1978, Terry A. Vaughan, James M. Ryan, Nicholas J. Czaplewski, Mammalogy, page 355

   Xenarthrans appear to have originated in South America and to have undergone their major adaptive radiation there (Reig 1981).

   2000, John F. Eisenberg, Kent H. Redford, Mammals of the Neotropics, volume 3, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, page 90

   2010, Ana Maria Jansen, André Luiz Rodrigues Roque, 11: Domestic and Wild Mammalian Reservoirs, Jenny Telleria, Michel Tibayrenc, American Trypanosomiasis: Chagas Disease: One Hundred Years of Research, page 249, Marsupials and xenarthrans, which represented the autochthonous mammalian fauna, were T. cruzi’s first hosts.