Manidae Explained

Manidae ("spirits") is the only extant family of pangolins. This family comprises three genera (Manis from subfamily Maninae, Phataginus from subfamily Phatagininae, and Smutsia from subfamily Smutsiinae),^{[1] [2]} as well as the extinct Fayum pangolin.^[3]

Classification and phylogeny

History of classification

All species of living pangolin had been assigned to the genus Manis until the late 2000s, when research prompted the splitting of extant pangolins into three genera: Manis, Phataginus, and Smutsia.^[4]

Taxonomy

Phylogeny

Phylogenetic position of family Manidae within order Pholidota based on Kondrashov & Agadjanian (2012.) study:^[6]

Phylogeny within family Manidae based on Wangmo (2025.) study:^[7]

See also

• Mammal classification
• Manoidea

External links

• ZSL Pangolin Conservation
• Pangolin: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
• Tree of Life of Pholidota
• National Geographic video of a pangolin
• Proceedings of the Workshop on Trade and Conservation of Pangolins Native to South and Southeast Asia (PDF)
• The Phylogeny of Living and Extinct Pangolins (Mammalia, Pholidota) and Associated Taxa: A Morphology Based Analysis (PDF)
• Bromley, Victoria (Director/Producer), Young, Nora (Narrator/Host), Diekmann, Maria . 2018 . Nature: The World's Most Wanted Animal . PBS . United States .
• Coronavirus: Revenge of the Pangolins? The New York Times, March 6, 2020.

Notes and References

1. Book: Schlitter, Duane A. . Wilson . D.E. . Reeder . D.M. . 2005 . Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference . 3rd . Baltimore, Maryland, USA . Johns Hopkins University Press . 530 . 978-0-8018-8221-0.
2. Philippe Gaubert . Agostinho Antunes . Hao Meng . Lin Miao . Stéphane Peigné . Fabienne Justy . Flobert Njiokou . Sylvain Dufour . Emmanuel Danquah . Jayanthi Alahakoon . Erik Verheyen . 11 May 2018 . The Complete Phylogeny of Pangolins: Scaling Up Resources for the Molecular Tracing of the Most Trafficked Mammals on Earth . Journal of Heredity . 109 . 4 . 347–359 . 10.1093/jhered/esx097 . 29140441.
3. Daniel Gebo, D. Tab Rasmussen (1985.) "The Earliest Fossil Pangolin (Pholidota: Manidae) from Africa" Journal of Mammalogy 66(3):538
4. Gaudin . Timothy . 2009 . The Phylogeny of Living and Extinct Pangolins (Mammalia, Pholidota) and Associated Taxa: A Morphology Based Analysis . Journal of Mammalian Evolution . Springer Science+Business Media . Heidelberg, Germany . 16 . 4 . 235–305 . 10.1007/s10914-009-9119-9 . 1773698 . 2021-01-20 . 2015-09-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150925134257/http://web2.utc.edu/~gvv824/Gaudin%20et%20al%202009.pdf .
5. Book: McKenna . M. C. . Bell . S. K. . Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level . Columbia University Press . 1997 . 978-0-231-52853-5 . 2024-09-16 . 631.
6. Kondrashov . Peter . Agadjanian . Alexandre K. . A nearly complete skeleton of Ernanodon (Mammalia, Palaeanodonta) from Mongolia: morphofunctional analysis . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 32 . 5 . 2012 . 0272-4634 . 10.1080/02724634.2012.694319 . 983–1001. 86059673 .
7. Wangmo . Lenrik Konchok . Ghosh . Avijit . Dolker . Stanzin . Joshi . Bheem Dutt . Sharma . Lalit Kumar . Thakur . Mukesh . 2025-01-07 . Indo-Burmese pangolin (Manis indoburmanica): a novel phylogenetic species of pangolin evolved in Asia . Mammalian Biology . 105 . 5 . 691–698 . 10.1007/s42991-024-00475-7 . 1616-5047 . subscription.