Pholidotamorpha

Pholidotamorpha ("pangolin-like forms") is a clade of placental, mostly ant- and termite-eating mammals that (partially) physically resemble anteaters and armadillos. However, those aforementioned species are now placed in the order Xenarthra, along with sloths; Pholidotamorpha is now classified under the mirorder Ferae, which includes the order Carnivora (carnivorous mammals) and the pangolins (Pholidota) as well as the prehistoric order Palaeanodonta, containing only extinct species.

== Classification and phylogeny == === History of taxonomy === Both the Pholidota and Palaeanodonta orders were formerly placed with other orders of ant-eating mammals, most notably Xenarthra (armadillos, sloths, anteaters, which they superficially resemble); some palaeontologists, throughout the history of zoology, have placed pangolins and palaeanodonts as a suborder, Pholidota, in the greater order Cimolesta, alongside the extinct family Ernanodontidae as a separate suborder Ernanodonta near it. However, this idea fell out of favor when it was determined that cimolestids were not truly placental mammals.