Belongs within: Pholidotamorpha.
The Pholidota (pangolins) are toothless, insectivorous mammals known from Africa and Asia. Modern species are characterised by a covering of overlapping keratinous scales, and have powerful forelimbs adapted for digging. The Asian pangolins in the genus Manis differ from the African genera in having ear pinnae represented by a flap or thickened rim of skin, persistent hairs at the bases of the skins, and a more or less symmetrical arrangement of scales on the tail with the median row continuing to the end. The African genera Smutsia, Uromanis and Phataginus lack pinnae or hairs at the base of scales in adults, and the median row of scales does not reach the end of the tail, dividing into two asymmetrical rows (Patterson 1978).
Pholidota
| i. s.: Euromanis krebsiOB13
| Eurotamandua Storch 1981HUG17, BAA04
| |--E. joresi Storch 1981S03
| `--‘Eomanis’ krebsiR06
| Argyromanis patagonicaA05a
|--Eomanis Storch 1978S03 [EomanidaeR06]
| `--E. waldi Storch 1978S03
`--+--PatriomanidaeR06
| |--Patriomanis Emry 1970S03
| | `--*P. americanus Emery 1970E70
| `--Necromanis Filhol 1893 [incl. Galliaetatus Ameghino 1905, Leptomanis Filhol 1893, Teutomanis Ameghino 1905]S03
| |--‘Leptomanis’ edwardsi Filhol 1894E70
| |--‘Lutra’ franconica Quenstedt 1885E70 [=Potamotherium franconicumA05b, *Teutomanis franconicaA05b]
| |--N. parva von Koenigswald 1969E70
| |--‘Teutomanis’ quenstedti Ameghino 1905 [incl. *Galliaetatus schlosseri Ameghino 1905]E70
| `--N. quercyi Filhol 1894E70
`--ManidaeR06
|--+--Smutsia Gray 1865FS15, P78
| | |--S. giganteaFS15 [=Manis giganteaM94, Phataginus (Smutsia) giganteusP78]
| | `--S. temminckiiFS15 [=Manis temminckiiANG03, Phataginus (Smutsia) temminckiP78]
| `--+--Uromanis Pocock 1924FS15, E70
| | `--U. tetradactylaFS15
| `--Phataginus Rafinesque 1821FS15, P78
| |--P. longicaudataP78
| `--P. tricuspisFS15 [=Manis tricuspisM94]
`--Manis Linnaeus 1758FS15, P78 (see below for synonymy)
| i. s.: M. auritaP78
| M. hungrarica Kormos 1934E70
| M. lydekkeri Dubois 1908E70
| M. macruraT99
| M. multiscutata Gray 1843G43
| M. tetradactyla [incl. M. longicaudata]E70
|--+--M. culionensisFS15
| `--M. javanicaFS15 [=M. (Paramanis) javanicaJ68]
`--+--M. paleojavanica Dubois 1907FS15, E70
`--+--*M. pentadactyla Linnaeus 1758L58, FS15, BAA04
`--M. crassicaudataFS15
Manis Linnaeus 1758FS15, P78 [incl. Pangolinus Rafinesque 1821E70, Paramanis Pocock 1924E70, Phatages Sundevall 1843E70, Pholidotus Brisson 1762E70]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[A05a] Ameghino, F. 1905a. La perforación astragaliana en el Orycteropus y el origen de los Orycteropidae. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 59–95.
[A05b] Ameghino, F. 1905b. Les édentés fossiles de France et d’Allemagne. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 175–250.
[ANG03] Asher, R. J., M. J. Novacek & J. H. Geisler. 2003. Relationships of endemic African mammals and their fossil relatives based on morphological and molecular evidence. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 10 (1–2): 131–194.
[BAA04] Bergqvist, L. P., E. A. L. Abrantes & L. dos S. Avilla. 2004. The Xenarthra (Mammalia) of São José de Itaboraí Basin (upper Paleocene, Itaboraian), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Geodiversitas 26 (2): 323–337.
[E70] Emry, R. J. 1970. A North American Oligocene pangolin and other additions to the Pholidota. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 142 (6): 455–510.
[FS15] Faurby, S., & J.-C. Svenning. 2015. A species-level phylogeny of all extant and late Quaternary extinct mammals using a novel heuristic-hierarchical Bayesian approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 14–26.
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[J68] Johnson, M. L. 1968. Application of blood protein electrophoretic studies to problems in mammalian taxonomy. Systematic Zoology 17 (1): 23–30.
[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.
[M94] MacPhee, R. D. E. 1994. Morphology, adaptations, and relationships of Plesiorycteropus, and a diagnosis of a new order of eutherian mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 220: 1–214.
[OB13] O’Leary, M. A., J. I. Bloch, J. J. Flynn, T. J. Gaudin, A. Giallombardo, N. P. Giannini, S. L. Goldberg, B. P. Kraatz, Z.-X. Luo, J. Meng, X. Ni, M. J. Novacek, F. A. Perini, Z. S. Randall, G. W. Rougier, E. J. Sargis, M. T. Silcox, N. B. Simmons, M. Spaulding, P. M. Velazco, M. Weksler, J. R. Wible & A. L. Cirranello. 2013. The placental mammal ancestor and the post-K–Pg radiation of placentals. Science 339: 662–667.
[P78] Patterson, B. 1978. Pholidota and Tubulidentata. In: Maglio, V. J., & H. B. S. Cooke (eds) Evolution of African Mammals pp. 268–278. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).
[R06] Rose, K. D. 2006. The Beginning of the Age of Mammals. John Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.
[S03] Storch, G. 2003. Fossil Old World “edentates” (Mammalia). Senckenbergiana Biologica 83: 51–60.
[T99] Tandler, J. 1899. Zur vergleichenden Anatomie der Kopfarterien bei den Mammalia. Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematische-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Wien 67: 677–784, pls 1–8.