Terpene

Pilosa^[1] Temporal range: 60–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Paleocene to Recent

Giant Anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Superorder:	Xenarthra
Order:	Pilosa Flower, 1883
Suborders
Vermilingua - anteaters Folivora - sloths

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.

[edit] 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
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

[edit] References

^ Gardner, Alfred (16 November 2005). Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 100-103. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3.
^ A proposed clade, Atlantogenata, would include Xenarthra and early African mammals.

Extant mammal orders by infraclass

Kingdom Animalia · Phylum Chordata · Subphylum Vertebrata · (unranked) Amniota

Australosphenida

Monotremata (Platypus and echidnas)

Metatheria
(Marsupial inclusive)

Ameridelphia	Paucituberculata (Shrew opossums) · Didelphimorphia (Opossums)

Australidelphia	Microbiotheria (Monito del Monte) · Notoryctemorphia (Marsupial moles) · Dasyuromorphia (Quolls and dunnarts) · Peramelemorphia (Bilbies and bandicoots) · Diprotodontia (Kangaroos and relatives)