Species of anteaters in australia, africa, and south america are not closely related. however, they share similar characteristics that they use to eat ants and termites, including a long sticky tongue, large salivary glands, and a rugged stomach. this is an example of

This is an example of convergent evolution.

Convergent evolution is a process in which organisms that are not closely related or organisms of different lineages independently evolve similar features because they have to adapt to similar environments or selection pressures. This process produces analogous body forms that have the same shape or function but do not exist in the last common ancestor of those groups. From the question, the similar characteristics among the species of anteaters in Australia, Africa, and South America is an example of convergent evolution.

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