African tree pangolin (Phataginus) is a genus of African pangolins from subfamily Phatagininae, within family Manidae. Its members are the more arboreal of the African pangolins.Philippe Gaubert, Agostinho Antunes, Hao Meng, Lin Miao, Stéphane Peigné, Fabienne Justy, Flobert Njiokou, Sylvain Dufour, Emmanuel Danquah, Jayanthi Alahakoon, Erik Verheyen, William T Stanley, Stephen J O’Brien, Warren E Johnson, Shu-Jin Luo (2018) The Complete Phylogeny of Pangolins: Scaling Up Resources for the Molecular Tracing of the Most Trafficked Mammals on Earth
From 2010 to 2019, at least 895,000 pangolins from the genus Phataginus were illegally trafficked. The animal is hunted and poached for its scales and meat, and is often used in making traditional medicine in places such as China and Vietnam. Attempts to protect these mammals from trafficking and extinction are ongoing; unfortunately their slow reproduction rate stymies population recovery. Currently the tree pangolin is listed as endangered. All pangolin species have been listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.
Etymology Constantine Rafinesque (1821) formed the Neo-Latin generic name Phataginus from the French term phatagin, adopted by Count Buffon (1763) after the reported local name phatagin or phatagen used in the East Indies.
Taxonomy Subfamily: Phatagininae (small African pangolins) Genus: Phataginus (African tree pangolin) Phataginus tetradactyla (black-bellied pangolin) Phataginus tricuspis (white-bellied pangolin)
Phylogeny Phylogenetic position of genus Phataginus within family Manidae based on Wangmo (2025.) study:
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