Thinobadistes

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 Temporal range: Mid Miocene-Early Pliocene (Hemphillian) 10.3–4.9 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
T. segnis, Florida Museum of Natural History Fossil Hall at the University of Florida
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Superorder:	Xenarthra
Order:	Pilosa
Family:	†Mylodontidae
Subfamily:	†Lestodontinae
Tribe:	†Thinobadistini
Genus:	†Thinobadistes Hay 1919
Species
T. segnis Hay 1919 (type) T. wetzeli Webb 1989

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

1. PaleoBiology Database: Thinobadistes, basic info
2. 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.
3. R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698
4. Paleobiology Database: Thinobadistes, collections.

Further reading

• 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.