Pilosa[1]
Temporal range: Paleocene - Holocene, 55.8–0 Ma
Pilosa species of different families; from top-left, clockwise: Silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), pale-throated sloth (Bradypus tridactylus), Linnaeus's two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Superorder: Xenarthra
Order: Pilosa
Flower, 1883
Families
Red: anteater ,Blue: sloth,Purple: both sloth and anteater

The order Pilosa /paɪˈloʊsə/ is a clade of xenarthran placental mammals, native to the Americas. It includes anteaters and sloths (which include the extinct ground sloths). The name comes from the Latin word for "hairy".[2]

Origins and taxonomy

The biogeographic origins of the Pilosa are still unclear,[3] but they can be traced back in South America as far as the early Paleogene (about 60 million years ago, only a short time after the end of the Mesozoic Era). 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 (extra formations between lumbar vertebrae). 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 (meaning toothless, because the members do not have front incisor teeth or molars, or have poorly developed molars). Edentata was subsequently realized to be polyphyletic; it contained unrelated families and was thus invalid.

Classification

Main article: List of pilosans

Taxonomy

Restoration of the ground sloth Nothrotheriops

Order Pilosa

Phylogeny

Major families within Pilosa[4]

  Pilosa  

Cladogram of living Pilosa[4][5][6]

  Pilosa  

References

  1. ^ Gardner, A. L. (2005). "Order Pilosa". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 100–103. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ^ Kidd, D.A. (1973). Collins Latin Gem Dictionary. London: Collins. p. 248. ISBN 0-00-458641-7.
  3. ^ A proposed clade, Atlantogenata, would include Xenarthra and early African mammals.
  4. ^ a b c Presslee, S.; Slater, G. J.; Pujos, F.; Forasiepi, A. M.; Fischer, R.; Molloy, K.; Mackie, M.; Olsen, J. V.; Kramarz, A.; Taglioretti, M.; Scaglia, F.; Lezcano, M.; Lanata, J. L.; Southon, J.; Feranec, R.; Bloch, J.; Hajduk, A.; Martin, F. M.; Gismondi, R. S.; Reguero, M.; de Muizon, C.; Greenwood, A.; Chait, B. T.; Penkman, K.; Collins, M.; MacPhee, R.D.E. (2019). "Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships" (PDF). Nature Ecology & Evolution. 3 (7): 1121–1130. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0909-z. PMID 31171860. S2CID 174813630.
  5. ^ Miranda, Flávia R.; Casali, Daniel M.; Perini, Fernando A.; Machado, Fabio A.; Santos, Fabrício R. (2018). "Taxonomic review of the genus Cyclopes Gray, 1821 (Xenarthra: Pilosa), with the revalidation and description of new species". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 183 (3): 687–721. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx079.
  6. ^ Gibb, Gillian C.; Condamine, Fabien L.; Kuch, Melanie; Enk, Jacob; Moraes-Barros, Nadia; Superina, Mariella; Poinar, Hendrik N.; Delsuc, Frédéric (2015). "Shotgun Mitogenomics Provides a Reference PhyloGenetic Framework and Timescale for Living Xenarthrans". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 33 (3): 621–42. doi:10.1093/molbev/msv250. PMC 4760074. PMID 26556496.
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