Manidae ("spirits") is the only extant family of pangolins.Sean P. Heighton, Rémi Allio, Jérôme Murienne, Jordi Salmona, Hao Meng, Céline Scornavacca, Armanda D. S. Bastos, Flobert Njiokou, Darren W. Pietersen, Marie-Ka Tilak, Shu-Jin Luo, Frédéric Delsuc, Philippe Gaubert (2023.) "Pangolin genomes offer key insights and resources for the world's most trafficked wild mammals" This family comprises three genera (Manis from subfamily Maninae, Phataginus from subfamily Phatagininae, and Smutsia from subfamily Smutsiinae), as well as the extinct Fayum pangolin.Daniel Gebo, D. Tab Rasmussen (1985.) "The Earliest Fossil Pangolin (Pholidota: Manidae) from Africa" Journal of Mammalogy 66(3):538
Classification and phylogeny History of classification All species of living pangolin had been assigned to the genus Manis until the late 2000s, when research prompted the splitting of extant pangolins into three genera: Manis, Phataginus, and Smutsia.
Taxonomy Former classification (McKenna & Bell, 1997): Current classification: Family: Manidae (Gray, 1821) (pangolins) Subfamily: Maninae (Gray, 1821) (Asian pangolins) Genus: Manis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Asian pangolin) †Manis hungarica (Kormos, 1934) (Hungarian pangolin) †Manis lydekkeri (Dubois, 1908) (Lydekker's pangolin) †Manis palaeojavanica (Dubois, 1907) (giant Asian pangolin) Subgenus: Manis (Linnaeus, 1758) Manis crassicaudata (Gray, 1827) (Indian pangolin) Manis pentadactyla (Linnaeus, 1758) (Chinese pangolin) Subgenus: Paramanis (Pocock, 1924) (Southeast Asian pangolin) Manis javanica (Desmarest, 1822) (Sunda pangolin) Manis culionensis (de Elera, 1895) (Philippine pangolin) Genus: †Eomanis (Storch, 1978) †Eomanis krebsi (Storch & Martin, 1994) †Eomanis waldi (Storch, 1978) Genus: †Necromanis (Filhol, 1894) †Necromanis franconica (Quenstedt, 1885) †Necromanis parva (Koenigswald, 1969) †Necromanis quercyi (Filhol, 1894) Genus: †Patriomanis (Emry, 1970) †Patriomanis americana (Emry, 1970) Subfamily: Smutsiinae (Gray, 1873) (African pangolins) Tribe: Smutsiini (Gray, 1873) (large African pangolins) Genus: Smutsia (Gray, 1865) (African ground pangolin) Smutsia gigantea (Illiger, 1815) (giant pangolin) Smutsia temmincki (Smuts, 1832) (ground pangolin) Tribe: Uromanini (McKenna & Bell, 1997) (small African pangolins) Genus: Phataginus (Rafinesque, 1821) Phataginus tricuspis (Rafinesque, 1821) (white-bellied pangolin) Genus: Uromanis (Pocock, 1924) Phataginus tetradactyla (Linnaeus, 1766) (black-bellied pangolin) Genus: †Eurotamandua (Storch, 1981) †Eurotamandua joresi (Storch, 1981) Incertae sedis: †Manidae sp. [DPC 3972 & DPC 4364] (Gebo & Rasmussen, 1985) (Fayum pangolin) Family: Manidae (Gray, 1821) (pangolins) Subfamily: Maninae (Gray, 1821) (Asian pangolins) Genus: Manis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Asian pangolin) †Manis hungarica (Kormos, 1934) (Hungarian pangolin) (unranked): northern Asian clade Manis indoburmanica (Wangmo, 2025) (Indo Burmese pangolin) Manis pentadactyla (Linnaeus, 1758) (Chinese pangolin) (unranked): southern Asian clade Manis crassicaudata (Gray, 1827) (Indian pangolin) Manis mysteria (Tong-Tong, 2023) (cryptic pangolin) †Manis lydekkeri (Dubois, 1908) (Lydekker's pangolin) Subgenus: Paramanis (Pocock, 1924) (Southeast Asian pangolin) Manis javanica (Desmarest, 1822) (Sunda pangolin) Manis culionensis (de Elera, 1895) (Philippine pangolin) †Manis palaeojavanica (Dubois, 1907) (giant Asian pangolin) (unranked): African clade Subfamily: Phatagininae (Gaubert, 2017) (small African pangolins) Genus: Phataginus (Rafinesque, 1821) (African tree pangolin) Phataginus tetradactyla (Linnaeus, 1766) (black-bellied pangolin) Phataginus tricuspis (Rafinesque, 1821) (white-bellied pangolin) Subfamily: Smutsiinae (Gray, 1873) (large African pangolins) Genus: Smutsia (Gray, 1865) (African ground pangolin) Smutsia gigantea (Illiger, 1815) (giant pangolin) Smutsia temmincki (Smuts, 1832) (ground pangolin) †Smutsia olteniensis (Terhune, 2021) (Oltenian pangolin) Incertae sedis †Manidae sp. [DPC 3972 & DPC 4364] (Gebo & Rasmussen, 1985) (Fayum pangolin)
Phylogeny Cladogram of phylogeny within family Manidae Position within order Pholidota based on Rose (2026.) study: Within family based on Wangmo (2025.) study:
See also Mammal classification Manoidea
References
External links ZSL Pangolin Conservation Pangolin: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation Tree of Life of Pholidota National Geographic video of a pangolin Proceedings of the Workshop on Trade and Conservation of Pangolins Native to South and Southeast Asia (PDF) The Phylogeny of Living and Extinct Pangolins (Mammalia, Pholidota) and Associated Taxa: A Morphology Based Analysis (PDF)
Coronavirus: Revenge of the Pangolins? The New York Times, March 6, 2020.