Xenarthra

The superorder Xenarthra is a group of placental mammals (infraclass Eutheria), existent today only in the Americas and represented by anteaters, tree sloths, and armadillos. The origins of the order can be traced back as far as the Paleogene (about 60 million years ago, shortly after the Mesozoic era). Xenarthrans developed and diversified extensively in South America during its long period of isolation, invaded the Antilles by the early Miocene, and then spread to Central and North America starting about nine million years ago, as part of the Great American Interchange. Nearly all of the formerly abundant megafaunal xenarthrans, such as ground sloths, glyptodonts, and pampatheres went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene.

Xenarthrans share several distinctions from those of other placental mammals. The name Xenarthra means "strange joints", and was chosen because their vertebral joints have extra articulations and are unlike those of any other mammals. The males lack external testicles. Also, xenarthrans have the lowest metabolic rates among the therians.

Evolutionary relationships
Xenarthrans were classified in the past together with the pangolins and aardvarks as the order Edentata (meaning toothless, because the members do not have front incisor teeth or molars, or have poorly-developed molars). It was subsequently realized that Edentata was polyphyletic—that it contained unrelated families and was subsequently split up to reflect their true phylogeny. Aardvarks and pangolins are now placed in individual orders, and the new order Xenarthra was erected to group the remaining families (which are all related). The name Xenarthra means "strange joints", and was chosen because their vertebral joints have extra articulations and are unlike those of any other mammals. Because they lack characteristics believed to be present in the common ancestor of other known eutherian mammals, some weak morphological evidence suggests that the Xenarthra are outside the Epitheria, which contains all other known eutherians today. Some workers have even placed xenarthrans outside of placentals as a separate group Paratheria.

The morphology of xenarthrans generally suggests that the anteaters and sloths are closest together within Xenarthra, which is upheld by molecular studies. The order Xenarthra is more and more often divided into two orders: Pilosa, containing the Vermilingua (anteaters) and Folivora (sloths; previously known as Tardigrada or Phyllophaga), and the separate order Cingulata (armadillos). Xenarthra now has the rank of cohort or super-order. The Xenarthra are part of the super-cohort Atlantogenata.

Xenarthra may be most closely related to either Afrotheria (in the group Atlantogenata), or Epitheria (comprising Afrotheria and Boreoeutheria). In other words it may be nested within Eutheria or it may be the basal extant group. A comprehensive phylogeny by Goloboff et al. includes xenarthrans as a sister clade of Boreoeutheria (Euarchontoglires+Laurasiatheria) (in the Exafroplacentalia=Notolegia).

Classification
SUPERORDER XENARTHRA
 * Order Cingulata
 * Family Dasypodidae: armadillos
 * Pink Fairy Armadillo, Chlamyphorus truncatus
 * Northern Naked-tailed Armadillo, Cabassous centralis
 * Chacoan Naked-tailed Armadillo, Cabassous chacoensis
 * Southern Naked-tailed Armadillo, Cabassous unicinctus
 * Greater Naked-tailed Armadillo, Cabassous tatouay
 * Screaming Hairy Armadillo, Chaetophractus vellerosus
 * Big Hairy Armadillo, Chaetophractus villosus
 * Andean Hairy Armadillo, Chaetophractus nationi
 * Nine-banded Armadillo or Long-nosed Armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus
 * Seven-banded Armadillo, Dasypus septemcinctus
 * Southern Long-nosed Armadillo, Dasypus hybridus
 * Llanos Long-nosed Armadillo, Dasypus sabanicola
 * Great Long-nosed Armadillo, Dasypus kappleri
 * Hairy Long-nosed Armadillo, Dasypus pilosus
 * Six-banded Armadillo or Yellow Armadillo, Euphractus sexcinctus
 * Giant Armadillo, Priodontes maximus
 * Southern Three-banded Armadillo, Tolypeutes matacus
 * Brazilian Three-banded Armadillo, Tolypeutes tricinctus
 * Pichi or Dwarf Armadillo, Zaedyus pichiy
 * Family †Glyptodontidae: glyptodonts
 * Family †Pampatheriidae: pampatheres
 * Order Pilosa
 * Suborder Folivora
 * Family Bradypodidae: three-toed sloths
 * Pygmy Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus pygmaeus
 * Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus variegatus
 * Pale-throated Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus tridactylus
 * Maned Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus torquatus
 * Family Megalonychidae: two-toed sloths and extinct megalonychid ground sloths
 * Hoffman's Two-toed Sloth, Choloepus hoffmanni
 * Linnaeus's Two-toed Sloth or Southern Two-toed Sloth, Choloepus didactylus
 * Family †Megatheriidae: megatheriid ground sloths
 * Family †Mylodontidae: mylodontid ground sloths
 * Family †Orophodontidae: orophodontid ground sloths
 * Suborder Vermilingua
 * Family Cyclopedidae: silky anteaters
 * Silky Anteater, Cyclopes didactylus
 * Family Myrmecophagidae: anteaters
 * Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla
 * Northern Tamandua, Tamandua mexicana
 * Southern Tamandua, Tamandua tetradactyla