Xenarthran

Elephant-shrews, xenarthrans, hystricognathous rodents, cetaceans, some pinnipeds, and primates depart sharply from this trend, however.

Xenarthrans appear to have originated in South America and to have undergone their major adaptive radiation there (Reig 1981).

Only four xenarthran families are extant today, providing little indication of the past richness of the order.

2010, Ana Maria Jansen, André Luiz Rodrigues Roque, 11: Domestic and Wild Mammalian Reservoirs, Jenny Telleria, Michel Tibayrenc, American Trypanosomiasis: Chagas Disease: One Hundred Years of Research, page 249, Marsupials and xenarthrans, which represented the autochthonous mammalian fauna, were T. cruzi’s first hosts.