DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF GREAT ANT-EATER 

 FROM CENTRAL AMERICA. 



B}' Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. 



Assistant Curator, Division of Mammals. 



The restricted genus Myvniecophaija has long* been considered mon- 

 otypic, the single species tridactyla being accorded a range from Gua- 

 temala to Brazil. An examination of material in the collection of the 

 United States National Museum as well as in the collections of the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge; American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York; and the Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 Philadelphia, shows that constant specific differences exist between 

 skulls of individuals from South America and those of individuals from 

 Central America. The material now available is insutficient for deter- 

 mining whether these internal differences are correlated with external 

 differences. 



I am indebted to Mr. Outram Bangs, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 

 Dr. J. A. Allen, New York City; and Messrs. Witmer Stone and 

 James A. G. Rehn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the loan of speci- 

 mens from the collections under their care, for use in connection 

 with the preparation of this paper. 



GENERIC NAMES OF THE GREAT ANT-EATERS. 



MyrmeGophaga. — First used by Linnaeus in 1758^' with three species, 

 namely, didactyla Linnseus, from South America (type of Cyclopes 

 Gray 1821), tridactyla Linnaeus (type of the genus Myrmecopliaga., 

 by elimination) and tetradactyla Linnaeus (type of Uroleptes Wagler 

 1830.)^ 



«Systema Naturae, 10th ed., I, p. 35. 



&For a discussion of the term Mynnecophaga see Rehn, American Naturahst, 

 XXXIV, 1900, pp. 575, 576; Thomas, idem., XXXV, 1901, pp. 143, 144; and Allen, 

 Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XIV, 1901, pp. 91, 92; whence it is evident that ifj/r/ne- 

 cophaga is the proper generic designation of the Great Ant-eaters. 



Proceedinqs U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXI— No. 1496. 



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