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The order Pilosa is a group of placental mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s, extant today only in the Americas. It includes the anteater
Anteater

Anteaters are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa....
s and sloth
Sloth

The living sloths comprise six species of medium-sized mammals that live in Central America and South America belonging to the Family two-toed sloth and three-toed sloth, part of the order Pilosa....
s, including the recently extinct ground sloth
Ground sloth

Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths, mammals in the edentate superorder Xenarthra. They may have died out as recently as 1550 AD in Hispaniola and Cuba, but had long since been extinct on the mainland of North America and South America....
s.

The origins of the order can be traced back as far as the early Tertiary
Tertiary

The Tertiary is a a term for a Geologic time scale#Terminology 65 million to 1.8 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and an out-of-date definition of the Neogene#Controversy....
 (about 60 million years ago, or only a short time after the end of the dinosaur era
Mesozoic

The Mesozoic Era is one of three Geologic time scale of the Phanerozoic eon . The division of time into eras dates back to Giovanni Arduino, in the 18th century, although his original name for the era now called the 'Mesozoic' was 'Secondary' ....
). The presence of these animals in North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 is explained by the Great American Interchange
Great American Interchange

The Great American Interchange was an important zoogeography event in which land and freshwater fauna migrated from North America via Central America to South America and vice versa, as the volcanic Isthmus of Panama rose up from the sea floor and bridged the formerly separated continents....
.

Until recently, Pilosa was lumped with the armadillo
Armadillo

Armadillos are small placental mammals, known for having a leathery Armour shell. The Dasypodidae are the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths....
s in the order Xenarthra
Xenarthra

The superorder Xenarthra is a group of placental mammals , extant today only in the Americas. The origins of the order can be traced back as far as the early Tertiary ....
.






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Encyclopedia


The order Pilosa is a group of placental mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s, extant today only in the Americas. It includes the anteater
Anteater

Anteaters are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa....
s and sloth
Sloth

The living sloths comprise six species of medium-sized mammals that live in Central America and South America belonging to the Family two-toed sloth and three-toed sloth, part of the order Pilosa....
s, including the recently extinct ground sloth
Ground sloth

Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths, mammals in the edentate superorder Xenarthra. They may have died out as recently as 1550 AD in Hispaniola and Cuba, but had long since been extinct on the mainland of North America and South America....
s.

The origins of the order can be traced back as far as the early Tertiary
Tertiary

The Tertiary is a a term for a Geologic time scale#Terminology 65 million to 1.8 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and an out-of-date definition of the Neogene#Controversy....
 (about 60 million years ago, or only a short time after the end of the dinosaur era
Mesozoic

The Mesozoic Era is one of three Geologic time scale of the Phanerozoic eon . The division of time into eras dates back to Giovanni Arduino, in the 18th century, although his original name for the era now called the 'Mesozoic' was 'Secondary' ....
). The presence of these animals in North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 is explained by the Great American Interchange
Great American Interchange

The Great American Interchange was an important zoogeography event in which land and freshwater fauna migrated from North America via Central America to South America and vice versa, as the volcanic Isthmus of Panama rose up from the sea floor and bridged the formerly separated continents....
.

Until recently, Pilosa was lumped with the armadillo
Armadillo

Armadillos are small placental mammals, known for having a leathery Armour shell. The Dasypodidae are the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths....
s in the order Xenarthra
Xenarthra

The superorder Xenarthra is a group of placental mammals , extant today only in the Americas. The origins of the order can be traced back as far as the early Tertiary ....
. Xenarthra is now generally regarded as a superorder. In the past, these families were classified together with pangolin
Pangolin

Pangolins or scaly anteaters or Trenggiling are mammals in the Scientific classification Pholidota. There is only one extant family and one genus of pangolins, comprising eight species....
s and the Aardvark
Aardvark

The Aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is sometimes called "antbear", "anteater", "Cape anteater" , "earth hog" or "earth pig"....
 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
        Silky Anteater

        Silky Anteater or Pygmy Anteater is a species of anteater from Central America and South America ranging from extreme southern Mexico south to Brazil and, possibly, Paraguay....
        , Cyclopes didactylus
    • Family Myrmecophagidae
      Myrmecophagidae

      Myrmecophagidae is a family of anteaters, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek words for 'ant' and 'eat' . Myrmecophagids are native to Central and South America, from southern Mexico to northern Argentina....
      • Giant Anteater
        Giant Anteater

        .The Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, is the largest species of anteater. It is found in Central America and South America. It is the only species in the Myrmecophaga genus....
        , Myrmecophaga tridactyla
      • Northern Tamandua
        Northern Tamandua

        The Northern Tamandua is a species of tamandua anteater in the Myrmecophagidae family. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela....
        , Tamandua mexicana
      • Southern Tamandua
        Southern Tamandua

        Southern Tamandua, Collared Anteater or Lesser Anteater is a species of anteater from South America.It is a solitary animal, found in many habitats from mature to highly disturbed secondary forests and arid savannas....
        , Tamandua tetradactyla
  • Suborder Folivora
    • Family Bradypodidae: three-toed sloths
      • Pygmy Three-toed Sloth
        Pygmy Three-toed Sloth

        The Pygmy Three-toed Sloth is a three-toed sloth. Its habitat is located on the tiny island of Isla Escudo de Veraguas off the coast of Panama....
        , Bradypus pygmaeus
      • Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth
        Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

        The Brown-throated Sloth, Bradypus variegatus, is a species of three-toed sloth from Central America and South America.It is the most widespread and common species of the group, being found in many different kinds of environments, including evergreen and dry forests and in highly perturbed natural areas....
        , Bradypus variegatus
      • Pale-throated Three-toed Sloth
        Pale-throated Three-toed Sloth

        The Pale-throated Sloth is a three-toed sloth that inhabits tropical rainforests of Colombia, Venezuela, the Guyanas and Brazil. This sloth lives high in the canopy....
        , Bradypus tridactylus
      • Maned Three-toed Sloth
        Maned Three-toed Sloth

        The maned sloth, also known as the ai, Bradypus torquatus, is a species of Three-toed sloth South American sloth.The maned sloth has a small head, tiny eyes and ears, and a small tail hidden in its fur....
        , Bradypus torquatus
    • Family Megalonychidae
      Megalonychidae

      Megalonychid ground sloths first appeared in the early Oligocene, about 35 million years ago, in southern Argentina , and spread as far as the Antilles by the early Miocene....
      : two-toed sloths and extinct megalonychid
      Ground sloth

      Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths, mammals in the edentate superorder Xenarthra. They may have died out as recently as 1550 AD in Hispaniola and Cuba, but had long since been extinct on the mainland of North America and South America....
       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