Based on fossils, Bryan Patterson has concluded that early relatives of the aardvark appeared in Africa around the end of the Paleocene.[10][14] The ptolemaiidans, a mysterious clade of mammals with uncertain affinities, may actually be stem-aardvarks, either as a sister clade to Tubulidentata or as a grade leading to true tubulidentates.[15][16]
The first unambiguous tubulidentate was probably Myorycteropus africanus from Kenyan Miocene deposits.[10] The earliest example from the Orycteropus genus was the Orycteropus mauritanicus found in Algeria in deposits from the middle Miocene, with an equally aged version found in Kenya.[10] Fossils from the aardvark have been dated to 5 million years, and have been located throughout Europe and the Near East.[10] A close relative lived in Madagascar during the last ice age.[5]
The mysterious Pleistocene Plesiorycteropus from Madagascar was originally thought to be a tubulidentate that was descended from ancestors that entered the island during the Eocene. However, a number of subtle anatomical differences coupled with recent molecular evidence now lead researchers to believe that Plesiorycteropus is a relative of golden moles and tenrecs that achieved an aardvark-like appearance and ecological niche through convergent evolution.