Megatheriinae Temporal range: Early Miocene to Early Holocene (Hemphillian-Rancholabrean (NALMA) & Santacrucian-Lujanian) (SALMA)17.5–0.010 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Megatherium americanum skeleton, Natural History Museum, London
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Pilosa
Family:	†Megatheriidae
Subfamily:	†Megatheriinae Gill, 1872
Genera
†Anisodontherium †Diabolotherium †Eomegatherium †Eremotherium †Megathericulus †Megatheridium †Megatheriops †Megatherium †Ocnopus †Perezfontanatherium †Plesiomegatherium †Pliomegatherium †Proeremotherium †Promegatherium †Pyramiodontherium †Sibotherium[1] †Urumaquia

Megatheriinae is a subfamily of the Megatheriidae, an extinct family of ground sloths that lived from the Middle Miocene to the Early Holocene.^[2][3]

Classification

Within the Megatheriidae there are two (possibly three) subfamilies; the Megatheriinae and the Planopsinae. The phylogenetically older group is represented by the Planopsinae from the Lower and Middle Miocene. These still possessed a caniniform anterior tooth, which was separated from the posterior molar-like teeth by a small diastema . The more derived Megatheriinae, which are known from the Middle Miocene to the Early Holocene, on the other hand, had fully homodontic molars in a closed row.^[4] Originally, the subfamilies of the Nothrotheriinae and the Schismotheriinae were also placed in the Megatheriidae.^[5] Based on skull studies, the Nothrotheriidae, in which, among other genera, Nothrotherium, Nothrotheriops, and the semiaquatic Thalassocnus are placed, are regarded as a separate family, which forms the sister group of the Megatheriidae.^[6]