Orycteropodidae is a family of afrotheria

Afrotheria

Afrotheria is a clade of mammals, the living members of which belong to groups from Africa or of African origin: golden moles, sengis , tenrecs, aardvarks, hyraxes, elephants and sea cows. The common ancestry of these animals was not recognized until the late 1990s...

n mammals. Although there are many fossil species, the only species surviving today is the aardvark

Aardvark

The aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa...

, Orycteropus afer. Orycteropodidae is recognized as the only family within the order Tubulidentata, so the two are effectively synonyms.

The family arose in Africa in the Early Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 Epoch, and spread to Eurasia later in the Miocene. Most of the family's diversity had become extinct by the end of the Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

.

Characters

A few anatomical characters unite the Orycteropodidae and Tubulidentata.

• the occipital
  Occipital
  The word occipital, in zoology, pertains to the occiput .Occipital is a descriptor for several areas of animal & human anatomy.*External occipital protuberance* Internal occipital crest* Greater occipital nerve...
  
   region has extensive mastoid exposure
• the teeth have a distinctive structure called tubulidentate microstructure
• the femur
  Femur
  The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...
  
   has a pectineal tubercle
• the diaphysis of the tibia
  Tibia
  The tibia , shinbone, or shankbone is the larger and stronger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates , and connects the knee with the ankle bones....
  
   is curved mediolaterally

Classification

This classification follows Lehmann 2009.

• Genus Amphiorycteropus Lehmann 2009
  • † Amphiorycteropus gaudryi (Major, 1888) - type species
    Type species
    In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
    
    
  • † Amphiorycteropus abundulafus (Lehmann et al., 2005)
  • † Amphiorycteropus browni (Colbert, 1933) (= Orycteropus pilgrimi Colbert, 1933)
  • † Amphiorycteropus depereti (Helbing, 1933)
  • † Amphiorycteropus mauritanicus (Arambourg, 1959)

• † affinis (resembling) Amphiorycteropus
  • † aff. Amphiorycteropus pottieri (Ozansoy, 1965)
  • † aff. Amphiorycteropus seni (Tekkaya, 1993)

• Genus Orycteropus
  Orycteropus
  Orycteropus is a genus of mammals in the family Orycteropodidae within Tubulidentata.The only living species of all Tubulidentata is the Aardvark .- Species :* Orycteropus afer - Aardvark* † Orycteropus abundulafus...
  
  Geoffroy St. Hilaire
  Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
  Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories...
  
  , 1796
  • Orycteropus afer - Aardvark
    Aardvark
    The aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa...
    
     (type species)
  • † Orycteropus crassidens MacInnes, 1956
  • † Orycteropus djourabensis Lehmann et al., 2004

• Genus †Leptorycteropus Patterson, 1975
  • †Leptorycteropus guilielmi Patterson, 1975 - type species

• Genus † Myorycteropus MacInnes, 1956
  • † Myorycteropus africanus MacInnes, 1956 - type species

• † affinis (resembling) Myorycteropus
  • † aff. Myorycteropus chemeldoi (Pickford, 1975)
  • † aff. Myorycteropus minutus (Pickford, 1975)

Further reading

• "A sub-complete fossil aardvark (Mammalia, Tubulidentata) from the Upper Miocene of Chad".
• MacInnes D. G. (1956). Fossil Tubulidentata from East Africa. British Museum (Natural History), London. Fossil mammals of Africa series; no. 10. 46 pp.