New Mongolian specimen defines Ernanodon antelios

New research conducted on a warehoused specimen of Ernanodon antelios published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology on August 27, 2012, has ended a thirty year old mystery involving what Ernanodon antelios was. The research was reviewed at the Eureka Alert web site the same day.

The only other specimen of Ernanodon anteliosin existence lacked physical details that could classify the ancient mammal or elucidate its possible behavior and position in mammalpaleontology.
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The new specimen from the Naran Bulak locality of Mongolia originally discovered by a team of Soviet paleontologists in 1979 has eliminated the mystery surrounding the 57 million year old Paleocene mammal.

The new specimen has well-preserved arms, legs, backbone, head, and other bones that were indistinguishable in the only other known Ernanodon anteliosfossil. Ernanodon antelios was found to be designed for digging by comparison to modern mammal bone structure. The animal may have dug for food or shelter.

“The strong limbs and large claws of Ernanodon, combined with its unusual, simplified teeth, have caused much confusion about its evolutionary relationships. Some scientists thought Ernanodon was an ancient relative of modern armadillos and anteaters, whereas other scientists thought Ernanodon was more closely related to a group of African and Asian ant-eating mammals known as pangolinsor "scaly anteaters." The new study concludes that Ernanodon was a closer relative of pangolins than armadillos and anteaters, but that it represents a very early side branch of the pangolin family tree.”

Peter Kondrashov of A. T. Still University of Health Sciences and Alexander Agadjanian of the Borissiak Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences are responsible for the elucidation of Ernanodon antelios.