Xenarthrans probably evolved in SouthAmerica, and this continent has been their traditional home, although some have migrated into North America.  Although these creatures did not radiate into arboreal insectivore niches as in RL (these niches already having been taken by the didelphids), they became quite succsessful as insectivorous ground-dwellers and burrowers.

INSECTIPHAGIDAE (Pangodilloes)
    Spec's 'ant-eaters' are the dominant small insectivores of South America, and are clearly xenarthrans, possessing the clade's slow-growing, enamel-less teeth and xenarthrual articulation between their vertebrae (although insectiphags' backs are more flexible than other xenarthrans.  However, these hedge-hog like creatures are not true myrmecophagids (the famliar ant-eaters of our home timeline), but a more generalized family that often mimics the pholidotes (pangolins) of RL.

      The first mammalogists to explore Spec's Panamanian Isthmus were startled to discover the pangodillo (Echinomanis echinis) a creature that at first glance appeared to be a pangolin - a scaled anteater. Not only did the creature possess razor-sharp blade-like 'spikes' instead of the flat but very tough scales of the homeworld pangolins, its mere existence in the New World, and simply existing, was a major puzzle.

    In our home time-line the Pholidota were exclusively of Old-World in distribution, and were not found in South America. On top of that, the branch of Mammalia that lead to the pangolins had, as far as paleontologists could determine, never exsisted on Spec.

 (fig. 1) Pangodillo,   Echinomanis echinis (Central America)

    Fortunately, after trapping and internal examination, the mammalogists could breath a sigh of relief - Echinomanis was, in fact, a kind of armadillo - a very strange, partly arboreal, ant and termite-eating spiny armadillo, but much more easily accepted than a Spec-Panamanian pangolin.

DASYPODIDAE (Armadilloes)
    The most diverse group of xenarthrans, armadilloes are small generalist/insectivores that range from central South America to southern North America.  Many species (though not all) are covered with an articulating armor of flattened plates.  All armadilloes are burrowers to some extent. 

    The armatell is a large (almost a metre long in some regions) burrowing, nocturnal carnivore. The species has an excellent sense of smell, which this badger-like animal uses locate its prey of small mammals an reptiles. Prey is usually unearthed with the digging claws on the forefeet, and dispatched with a swift bite. Armatell teeth are, like those of other xenarthrans, naked dentine, but much sharper and more robust than those of its kin.  These teeth grow slowly, but are strongly rooted in the gums and remain throughout the predator's life.  In fact, armatell lifespan is intimately linked with that of their teeth, as a toothless animal soon starves.

    Armatells dig extensive burrows ('sets') that many other species will inhabit if abandoned, but are not social. Younger individuals may inherit a set, but only after the current resident dies or is driven away

 (fig. 1) Armatell,   Carnodasypodis horridus (Southern South America)

BULIIDAE (Bullids)

    Bullids are small and (not surprisingly) bullett-shaped burrowers that range from Argentina to Brazil.   The family spourts armadillo-like armour, but this plating has been reduced to a carapace over the top of the skull - used to push earth aside as they burrow - and scattered bony nodules over the shoulders.

    Bullids are adapted to eat colonial insects---termites and ants---which they dispatch by burrowing under the insects' nests and then bursting into the upper chambers from below.  Many species of termite defend against this behavior by spitting poisons at attacking bullids, and by extending the hard walls of their fortresses far below ground level, but the sharp claws and impervious headshield of the little insectivores are proof against the strongest wall or poison.  Swarming ants, which seek to escape predators by  leaving their nests and forming large, mobile bivouacs, are not safe from bullids, either, as the these xenarthrans will often construct conical traps, in the manner of an ant-lion, in which they can catch swarms of walking prey.

    With their hard head shields and in their general shape, bullids resemble South America's other diggers, the docodont moliarties.  Bullids, however, are easily distinguishable from their primative look-alikes in the construction of their head shields (which are fused hair, not horn), their erect posture, and the number of digging claws on their hands (four, not five).  Bullids also feed primarily upon termites an ants, while docodonts eat worms and other burrowing invertebrates, and so species of both groups may dwell in the same land, even going so far as to share burrows, but of the two, bullids are far more likely to be seen on or near ground surface than the more secretive docodonts.

    Argentinean bullids are small burrowing insectivores, thriving on (or rather, under) the South American pampas. This species is rarely seen on the surface, and has small eyes and ears -  the latter protected by small, bony, hornlike extensions of the 'skullcap'. These horns are slightly larger in the males, but do not appear to be used in any offensive function.

            ,=Insectiphagidae=Echinomanis echinis ( Pangodillo )
=Xenarthra=|
           |   ,=Dasypodidae=Carnodasypodis horridus ( Armatell )
            `=|
               `=Buliidae=Bulia argentiniensis (Argentinian bullid )

Back to Spec