dcsimg

Behavior

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Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical

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Myers, P. 2000. "Pilosa" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pilosa.html
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Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
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Morphology

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Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry

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Myers, P. 2000. "Pilosa" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pilosa.html
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Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
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Reproduction

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Key Reproductive Features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual

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Myers, P. 2000. "Pilosa" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pilosa.html
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Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
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Brief Summary

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Order Pilosa includes the sloths (suborder Folivera) and the anteaters (suborder Vermilingua). Both were previously grouped as Order Xenarthra with the armadillos (now Order Cingulata), but it has been determined that similarities with armadillos are due to convergent evolution.

The pilosans are native to the Americas and especially flourished in South America when it was an isolated island during the Tertiary period. They diversified into some of the New World's most unique mammals, from extinct ground sloths the size of elephants to the highly specialized anteaters of today. There are ten living pilosan species plus three ground sloth species that went extinct recently enough to have coexisted with early Patagonian people.

Pilosans have some unique physiological traits compared to other mammals. They have extra bony "xenarthrales" between their lumbar vertebrae, a double vena cava vein bringing blood from the hindquarters to the heart, and retain primitive reproductive characteristics. Females have a divided uterus similar to the double uterus of marsupials and a combined urinary and genital duct, while males have internal testes with no glans to the penis. Pilosans also have remarkably reduced metabolisms compared to other mammals because they have specialized to eat low energy foods.

Anteaters have vestigial teeth with a weak, elongated mandible and a "worm-like" tongue which they use to feed on insects. Their tongue attaches to their sternum and can be extended up to half a meter. They walk with their feet turned up so that they tread on their knuckles or wrist in order to protect their curled digging claws.

Sloths spend most of their time hanging upside down while eating foliage, sleeping, mating, or even giving birth and may look like bundles of leaves themselves. In the Two-toed sloths, the fur is grooved to better grow two kinds of blue-green algae, giving them a greenish hue. The largest energy expenditure a sloth makes is to climb down to the ground once a week to defecate.

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Pilosa

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The order Pilosa /pˈlsə/ is a clade of xenarthran placental mammals, native to the Americas. It includes the anteaters and sloths (which includes 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

Taxonomy

Restoration of the ground sloth Nothrotheriops

Order Pilosa

Phylogeny

Major families within Pilosa[4]

Pilosa Vermilingua

Cyclopedidae

Myrmecophagidae

Folivora Mylodontoidea

Scelidotheriidae

Choloepodidae

Mylodontidae

Megatherioidea

Nothrotheriidae

Megatheriidae

Bradypodidae

Megalonychidae

Megalocnoidea

Megalocnidae

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

Pilosa Vermilingua Myrmecophagidae Myrmecophaga

M. tridactyla

Tamandua

T. mexicana

T. tetradactyla

Cyclopedidae Cyclopes

C. rufus

C. thomasi

C. ida

C. xinguensis

C. dorsalis

C. didactylus

Folivora Choloepodidae Choloepus

C. didactylus

C. hoffmanni

Bradypodidae Bradypus

B. torquatus

B. pygmaeus

B. tridactylus

B. variegatus

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.
  • Data related to Pilosa at Wikispecies
  • Media related to Pilosa at Wikimedia Commons
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Pilosa: Brief Summary

provided by wikipedia EN

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

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