The objective was to apply a novel modification of a genome-wide, comparative 
cytogenetic technique (comparative genomic hybridization, comparative genomic 
hybridization (CGH)), to study species belonging to the myrmecophagous 
(ant/termite eating) mammalian orders/superorders (Pholidota, Tubulidentata, 
Carnivora, and Xenarthra), as a model for other applications in mammalian 
systematics and conservation biology. In this study, CGH was applied to 
high-quality metaphase spreads of pangolin (Pholidota), using probes of sloth 
and canine (Xenarthra and Carnivora, respectively) genomic DNA labeled with 
different fluorophores, thereby facilitating analysis of the visible color 
spectrum on pangolin karyotypes. Our results posited that pholidotes are closer 
to carnivores than to xenarthrans, which confirmed the current consensus that 
myrmecophagy in these mammalian lineages was more likely because of homoplasy 
(convergent evolution) than being an ancestral character. Since the modified CGH 
technique used is genome-wide, has chromosome-level resolution, and does not 
need full genome sequencing, it has considerable potential in systematics and 
other fields.