Thinobadistes

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Mammalia
Subclassis: Theria
Infraclassis: Placentalia
Ordo: Pilosa
Subordo: Folivora
Familia: †Mylodontidae
Genus: Thinobadistes

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Thinobadistes is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Mylodontidae, endemic to North America during the Miocene-Pliocene epochs (Hemphillian). It lived from 10.3—4.9 mya, existing for approximately 5.4 million years.[1]

Thinobadistes and Pliometanastes were the first of the giant sloths to appear in N. America. Both Pliometanastes and Thinobadistes were in N. America before the Panamanian Land Bridge formed around 2.5 million years ago. It is then reasonable to presume that the ancestors of Thinobadistes island-hopped across the Central American Seaway from South America, where sloths in general first evolved.[2]

Taxonomy

Thinobadistes was named by Hay (1919). Its type is Thinobadistes segnis. It was assigned to Mylodontidae by Hay (1919) and Carroll (1988).[3]
Fossil distribution

Fossils have been uncovered from Florida to Texas.[4]
References

PaleoBiology Database: Thinobadistes, basic info
Tetrapod Zoology Archived 2011-03-18 at the Wayback Machine, Scienceblogs, Ten things you didn't know about sloths, by Darien Naish, University of Portsmouth January 23, 2007.
R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698

Paleobiology Database: Thinobadistes, collections.

Further reading

iconPaleontology portal Prehistoric mammals portal

Classification of Mammals by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell
Hay, O. P. 1919. Descriptions of some mammalian and fish remains from Florida of probably Pleistocene age. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 56: 103–112.
Hay, O. P. 1921. Descriptions of species of Pleistocene vertebrata, types or specimens of most of which are preserved in the United States National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 59: 599–642.
Stock, C. 1948. Ground sloth Thinobadistes from the Pliocene of Florida. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 59(12): 1382.
Webb, S. D. 1980. North American mammalian chronology and the Interamerican interchance. Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America, 12 (7): 546.
Webb, S. D. 1989. Osteology and relationship of Thinobadistes segnis, the first mylodont sloth in North America; pp. 496–532 in K. H. Redford and J. F. Eisenberg (eds.), Advances in Neotropical Mammalogy, Sandhill Crane Press, Gainesville.