Tubulidentata

(vertebrate zoology) An order of mammals which contains a single living genus, the aardvark (Orycteropus) of Africa.

An order of mammals which contains a single living genus, the aardvark (Orycteropus) of Africa. Little is directly known of the origin and history of this peculiar group of mammals. The oldest undoubted record of the Tubulidentata is an early Miocene discovery in East Africa. Pliocene records in India and the Mediterranean border indicate the aardvarks had dispersed from Africa by that time. Tubular dentine reminiscent of the aardvarks occurs in Tubulodon from the early Eocene of North America, but the fragmentary material does not permit further comparison. See also Aardvark; Mammalia.