A Pink Fairy Armadillo (Mariella Superina)

The similarities can be explained either by the presence of a shared common ancestry, which would prove the monophyly of both species, or by the result of adaptive convergence due to extreme selective pressures induced by their lifestyle (which would suggest the diphyletic origin). In 2012 the first theory was proven. The split between these two species was estimated to have occurred around 17 ± 3 Mya, around the transition between Early and Middle Miocene.