Myrmecophaga tridactyla
Linnaeus, 1758 · speciesAt a glance
Sources12 archives
Databases and archives Myrmecophaga tridactyla's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation20 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility9 503 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI3 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics13 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) is an insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters, of which is the largest member. The only extant member of the genus Myrmecophaga, it is classified with sloths in the order Pilosa. This species is mostly terrestrial, in contrast to other living anteaters and sloths, which are arboreal or semiarboreal. The giant anteater is 182 to in length, with weights of 33 to for males and 27 to for females. It is recognizable by its elongated snout, bushy tail, long fore claws, and distinctively colored pelage. The giant anteater is found in multiple habitats, including grassland and rainforest. It forages in open areas and rests in more forested habitats. It feeds primarily on ants and termites, using its fore claws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them. Though giant anteaters live in overlapping home ranges, they are mostly solitary except during mother-offspring relationships, aggressive interactions between males, and when mating. Mother anteaters carry their offspring on their backs until weaning them. The giant anteater is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It has been extirpated from many parts of its former range. Threats to its survival include habitat destruction, fire, and poaching for fur and bushmeat, although some anteaters inhabit protected areas. With its distinctive appearance and habits, the anteater has been featured in pre-Columbian myths and folktales, as well as modern popular culture.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology3
Life cycle & reproduction9
Diet & foraging3
Habitat & environment2
Physiology & chemistry4
Other traits4
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Myrmecophaga tridactyla has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Myrmecophaga tridactyla carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The solid bar is the fossil range: the span between the oldest and the youngest fossil that palaeontologists have assigned to Myrmecophaga tridactyla. Above itBeside it, each dot is one dated fossil find — few enough to count, so they are drawn individually rather than as a graph. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil. Where the DNA reaches further back than the oldest fossil, the gap is hatched: the ghost lineage. It means the lineage was already out there, but has left us nothing we have dug up yet.
How it livedPBDB
Record type9 508 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions17 of 48 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| ECOPETROL S.A.location not on record | 16 |
| Chicago, US | 15 |
| GeoPark Colombia S.A.S. (GeoPark)location not on record | 12 |
| Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia (PNN)location not on record | 12 |
| Buenos Aires, AR | 11 |
| Stockholm, SE | 9 |
| Geopark Colombia S.A.S. (Geopark)location not on record | 6 |
| Geneva, CH | 6 |
| Ecopetrol S.A.location not on record | 5 |
| Denver, US | 5 |
| Brussels, BE | 5 |
| UEGlocation not on record | 5 |
| Cambridge, US | 5 |
| Bonn, DE | 4 |
| ASNHClocation not on record | 4 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 4 |
| Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL)location not on record | 4 |
| Ecopetrol S.Alocation not on record | 4 |
| GeoPark Colombia S.A.S (GeoPark)location not on record | 3 |
| Terrasoslocation not on record | 3 |
| APN-AR-FHNFAlocation not on record | 3 |
| Provo, US | 3 |
| Parex Resources (Colombia) AG Sucursallocation not on record | 3 |
| Universidad del Valle (UniValle)location not on record | 3 |
| Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 3 |
| Grupo Prodecolocation not on record | 2 |
| Barcelona, ES | 2 |
| University of the South Pacificlocation not on record | 2 |
| Universidad de Caldas (UCaldas)location not on record | 2 |
| Frontera Energy Colombia Corplocation not on record | 2 |
| Universidad de La Salle (La Salle)location not on record | 2 |
| Saint John, CA | 1 |
| Frontera Energy Colombia Corp (Frontera Energy)location not on record | 1 |
| ISA INTERCOLOMBIA E.S.P. S.A.location not on record | 1 |
| Universidad de los Andes (UniAndes)location not on record | 1 |
| TERRASOSlocation not on record | 1 |
| Berkeley, US | 1 |
| Toronto, CA | 1 |
| NTNU-VMlocation not on record | 1 |
| CASlocation not on record | 1 |
| Londrina, BR | 1 |
| Universidad de los Llanos (UniLlanos)location not on record | 1 |
| Construcciones y Ambiente Conambiente S.A.Slocation not on record | 1 |
| Iowa City, US | 1 |
| Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record | 1 |
| APN-AR-MFAlocation not on record | 1 |
| New Haven, US | 1 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Myrmecophaga tridactyla was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.