LAUSR

This special issue of the Journal of Mammalian Evolution comprises a collection of articles presented at the symposium BMorphology and Evolution of the Xenarthra^ organized and chaired by MSB and JAN. The symposium took place during the 11th International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (ICVM-11), Washington, D.C., USA, from June 29 to July 3, 2016. The aim of the symposium was to bring together morphologists from around the world that work on extant and extinct xenarthrans, one of the most fascinating and enigmatic mammalian clades. Given the lack of an international conference that specializes on the group, there is a tradition of holding symposia that focus on the Xenarthra (X-symposia from here on) during the ICVM meetings. The past X-symposia took place in Jena (2001, ICVM-6), Paris (2007, ICVM-8), and Punta del Este (2010; ICVM-9). The last X-symposium during 2016 (ICVM-11) represented an excellent opportunity to give continuity to these meetings and to present the latest research results to the international colleagues in the field. We had 22 contributions, 14 oral presentations (including one keynote lecture by Gerry De Iuliis) and eight posters, of altogether 41 authors from Argentina, Uruguay, USA, Canada, Spain, France, and Germany (Fig. 1). The topics of the presentations were diverse, counting bone histology, geometric morphometrics, functional morphology, comparative biomechanics, paleontology, and phylogeny. With a common interest in the overall evolution of the Xenarthra, the talks were loosely structured in three blocks focusing on 1) the systematics of extinct Xenarthra, 2) the functional morphology of extinct Xenarthra, and 3) the morphology of extant Xenarthra. The subjects of the posters generally followed this structure, too. We are very grateful to Lawrence M. Witmer (Ohio University), chair of the ICVM Scientific Program Committee, for his support during the organization of the symposium, and to all participants for their great contributions and attending the meeting. This special issue features ten papers that reflect the current state of the art in the research of the Xenarthra. Several contributions are reviewing the available literature, and thus help to identify new (or understudied) research avenues, whereas the other papers contribute valuable new data.