| Pilosa[1] Fossil range: 60–0 Ma Paleocene to Recent |
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| Giant Anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Superorder: | Xenarthra |
| Order: | Pilosa Flower, 1883 |
| Suborders | |
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Vermilingua - anteaters |
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The order Pilosa is a group of placental mammals, extant today only in the Americas. It includes the anteaters and sloths, including the recently extinct ground sloths.
The biogeographic origins of the Pilosa is still unclear[2] but they can be traced back in South America as far as the early Tertiary (about 60 million years ago, or only a short time after the end of the dinosaur era). The presence of these animals in Central America is explained by the Great American Interchange.
Together with the armadillos, Pilosa is part of the larger group Xenarthra. In the past Pilosa was regarded as a suborder of the order Xenarthra, while some more recent classifications regard Pilosa as an order within a superorder Xenarthra. Earlier still, both armadillos and Pilosans were classified together with pangolins and the Aardvark as the order Edentata (meaning toothless, because the members do not have front incisor teeth or molars, or have poorly-developed molars). It was subsequently realized that Edentata was polyphyletic—that it contained unrelated families and was thus invalid.
Classification
Order Pilosa
- Suborder Vermilingua
- Family Cyclopedidae
- Silky Anteater, Cyclopes didactylus
- Family Myrmecophagidae
- Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla
- Northern Tamandua, Tamandua mexicana
- Southern Tamandua, Tamandua tetradactyla
- Family Cyclopedidae
- Suborder Folivora
- Family Bradypodidae: three-toed sloths
- Pygmy Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus pygmaeus
- Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus variegatus
- Pale-throated Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus tridactylus
- Maned Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus torquatus
- Family Megalonychidae: two-toed sloths and extinct megalonychid ground sloths
- Hoffman's Two-toed Sloth, Choloepus hoffmanni
- Southern Two-toed Sloth, Choloepus didactylus
- Family †Megatheriidae: megatheriid ground sloths
- Family †Mylodontidae: mylodontid ground sloths
- Family †Orophodontidae: orophodontid ground sloths
- Family †Scelidotheriidae: scelidotheriid ground sloths
- Family Bradypodidae: three-toed sloths
References
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Wikispecies has information related to: Pilosa |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pilosa |
- ^ Gardner, Alfred (2005-11-16). Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M.. ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 100-103. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3.
- ^ A proposed clade, Atlantogenata, would include Xenarthra and early African mammals.
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