It has nocturnal habits and appears to be completely arboreal; its hind feet are highly modified for climbing.

[4] The only known extinct cyclopedid species is Palaeomyrmidon incomtus, from the Late Miocene (c. 7 to 9 million years ago) of modern-day Argentina.

On the hind feet, all four toes are of equal length and equipped with long claws, accompanied by a vestigial hallux that is not externally visible.

[6] Silky anteaters are found from Oaxaca and southern Veracruz in Mexico, through Central America (except El Salvador), and south to Ecuador, and northern Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.

[6] C. rufus C. thomasi C. ida C. xinguensis C. dorsalis C. didactylus The 2017 review suggests that four of these subspecies deserve to be recognized as species, while the others are synonyms.

[4] Silky anteaters are nocturnal and arboreal,[6] found in lowland rainforests with continuous canopy, where they can move to different places without the need to descend from trees.

Some of those faeces contain a large quantity of exoskeleton fragments of insects, indicating the silky anteater does not possess either chitinase or chitobiase,[9] digestive enzymes found in insectivorous bats.

[6] The young is usually placed inside a nest of dead leaves built in tree holes,[9] and left for about eight hours each night.

[6] Some authors suggest the silky anteater usually dwells in silk cotton trees (genus Ceiba).