Pilosa
Pilosa is a order of xenarthran placental mammals, native to the Americas. They include anteaters and sloths. The name comes from the Latin word for "hairy".
Origins and taxonomy
The biogeographic origins of the Pilosa are still unclear, but they can be traced back in South America as far as the early Paleogene. The presence of these animals in Central America and their former presence in North America is a result of the Great American Interchange. A number of sloths were also formerly present on the Antilles, which they reached from South America by some combination of rafting or floating with the prevailing currents.Together with the armadillos, which are in the order Cingulata, pilosans are part of the larger superorder Xenarthra, a defining characteristic of which is the presence of xenarthrals. In the past, Pilosa was regarded as a suborder of the order Xenarthra, while some more recent classifications regard Pilosa as an order within the superorder Xenarthra. Earlier still, both armadillos and pilosans were classified together with pangolins and the aardvark as the order Edentata. Edentata was subsequently realized to be polyphyletic; it contained unrelated families and was thus invalid.
Classification
Taxonomy
Order Pilosa- Suborder Vermilingua Illiger 1811 em. Gray 1869
- * Family Cyclopedidae Pocock 1924
- * Family Myrmecophagidae Gray 1825
- Suborder Folivora Delsuc et al. 2001
- * Superfamily †Megalocnoidea Delsuc et al. 2019
- ** Family †Megalocnidae Delsuc et al. 2019
- * Superfamily Megatherioidea Gray 1821
- ** Family Bradypodidae Gray 1821
- ** Family †Megalonychidae Gervais 1855
- ** Family †Megatheriidae Gray 1821
- ** Family †Nothrotheriidae Ameghino 1920
- * Superfamily Mylodontoidea Gill 1872
- ** Family Choloepodidae Pocock 1924
- ** Family †Mylodontidae Gill 1872
- ** Family †Scelidotheriidae Ameghino 1889
Phylogeny
Cladogram of living Pilosa