Italiano: Reconstruction of the skeleton of Metacheiromys (modified by Rose and Emry 1993 after Simpson 1931: fig. 1), a palaeanodont from the Middle Eocene of North America. Palaeanodonta means “ancient edentate”, in reference to the highly reduced dentition (except for the large canines) in specialized genera such as Palaeanodon and Metacheiromys, which probably reflects a dietary preference for ants and termites. Palaeanodonts were digging and burrowing mammals thought to have been armadillo−like in their habits, and they are currently considered as the probable ancestors of the pangolins (Rose et al. 2005).