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Long considered to be a close relative of the living aardvark (Orycteropus
afer), Plesiorycteropus is now thought to represent a wholly separate
evolutionary lineage. This species is known only from a few localities in Madagascar,
where it lived until about 1,000 years ago or less. Only the size of a small
dog, the bibymalagasy was probably a burrower that fed on social insects. It evidently
became extinct at the same time as some of the endemic hippos and giant lemurs,
perhaps because of environmental deterioration. There are no know associations
with humans.
See
also: MacPhee, R.D.E., 1994. Morphology, adaptations, and relationships
of Plesiorycteropus, and a diagnosis of a new order of eutherian mammals.
Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 220:1-214.
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