edentate

/əˌdɛnˈteɪt/

Other forms: edentates

Definitions of edentate

1. noun

   primitive terrestrial mammal with few if any teeth; of tropical Central America and South America
   types:

   armadillo

   burrowing chiefly nocturnal mammal with body covered with strong horny plates

   sloth, tree sloth

   any of several slow-moving arboreal mammals of South America and Central America; they hang from branches back downward and feed on leaves and fruits

   megatherian, megatherian mammal, megatheriid

   a large extinct ground sloth

   mylodontid

   a variety of extinct edentate

   mylodon

   large (bear-sized) extinct edentate mammal of the Pleistocene in South America

   New World anteater, anteater

   any of several tropical American mammals of the family Myrmecophagidae which lack teeth and feed on ants and termites

   Dasypus novemcinctus, Texas armadillo, nine-banded armadillo, peba

   having nine hinged bands of bony plates; ranges from Texas to Paraguay

   Tolypeutes tricinctus, apar, three-banded armadillo

   South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates

   Cabassous unicinctus, cabassous, tatouay

   naked-tailed armadillo of tropical South America

   Euphractus sexcinctus, peludo, poyou

   Argentine armadillo with six movable bands and hairy underparts

   Priodontes giganteus, giant armadillo, tatou, tatu

   about three feet long exclusive of tail

   Chlamyphorus truncatus, chlamyphore, fairy armadillo, pichiciago, pichiciego

   very small Argentine armadillo with pale silky hair and pink plates on head and neck

   Burmeisteria retusa, greater pichiciego

   of southern South America

   Bradypus tridactylus, ai, three-toed sloth

   a sloth that has three long claws on each forefoot and each hindfoot

   Choloepus didactylus, two-toed sloth, unai, unau

   relatively small fast-moving sloth with two long claws on each front foot

   Choloepus hoffmanni, two-toed sloth, unai, unau

   a sloth of Central America that has two long claws on each forefoot and three long claws on each hindfoot

   ground sloth, megathere

   gigantic extinct terrestrial sloth-like mammal of the Pliocene and Pleistocene in America

   mapinguari

   supposed human-sized sloth-like creature reportedly sighted by Indians in the Amazon rain forest

   Myrmecophaga jubata, ant bear, giant anteater, great anteater, tamanoir

   large shaggy-haired toothless anteater with long tongue and powerful claws; of South America

   Cyclopes didactylus, silky anteater, two-toed anteater

   squirrel-sized South American toothless anteater with long silky golden fur

   Tamandua tetradactyla, lesser anteater, tamandu, tamandua

   small toothless anteater with prehensile tail and four-clawed forelimbs; of tropical South America and Central America

   type of:

   eutherian, eutherian mammal, placental, placental mammal

   mammals having a placenta; all mammals except monotremes and marsupials
2. adjective

   having few if any teeth
   “anteaters are edentate animals”

   synonyms: edental, edentulate

   toothless

   lacking teeth