Editing Mylodon (section)

== Taxonomy ==
''Mylodon'''s close relatives include the ground sloths of the genera ''Glossotherium'' and ''Paramylodon''. The latter genus has often been confused with ''Glossotherium'', but ''Paramylodon'' is a distinct genus that was restricted to the [[Pleistocene]] of North America.<ref name="mcafee2007"/> ''Glossotherium'' also shares a long history of taxonomic confusion with ''Mylodon'', and currently the only recognized species is ''Mylodon darwini''. At one time, the elephant-sized ''[[Megatherium]]'' was thought to be closely related, but is recognized as belonging to a separate family ([[Megatheriidae]]).

Below is a phylogenetic tree of the Mylodontidae, based on the work of Boscaini ''et al.''. 2019.<ref name="boscainietal2019">{{cite journal |last1=Boscaini |first1=Alberto |last2=Pujos |first2=François |last3=Gaudin |first3=Timothy J. |title=A reappraisal of the phylogeny of Mylodontidae (Mammalia, Xenarthra) and the divergence of mylodontine and lestodontine sloths |journal=Zoologica Scripta |date=November 2019 |volume=48 |issue=6 |pages=691–710 |doi=10.1111/zsc.12376 |s2cid=201194980 }}</ref>

{{clade|style=white-space:nowrap;font-size:100%;line-height:100%
|label1=[[Mylodontidae]]
|1={{clade
   |1={{clade
      |1=''[[Urumacotherium]]''
      |2=''[[Pseudoprepotherium]]''
      }}
   |2={{clade
      |1={{clade
         |1=''[[Paroctodontotherium]]''
         |2=''[[Octodontotherium]]''
         }}
      |2={{clade
         |1=''[[Brievabradys]]''
         |label2=[[Mylodontinae]]
          |2={{clade
            |label1=[[Lestodontini]]
            |1={{clade
               |1={{clade
                  |1=''[[Lestodon]]''
                  |2=''[[Bolivartherium]]''
                  }}
               |2={{clade
                  |1=''[[Thinobadistes]]''
                  |2={{clade
                     |1=''[[Sphenotherus]]''
                     |2=''[[Lestobradys]]''
                     }}
                  }}
               }}
            |label2=[[Mylodontini]]
            |2={{clade
               |1=''[[Pleurolestodon]]''
               |2={{clade
                  |1={{clade
                     |1=''[[Glossotheridium]]''
                     |2=''[[Simomylodon]]''
                     }}
                  |2={{clade
                     |1={{clade
                        |1={{clade
                           |1=''[[Kiyumylodon]]''
                           |2='''''Mylodon'''''
                           }}
                        |2=''[[Paramylodon]]''
                        }}
                     |2=''[[Glossotherium]]''
                     }}
                  }}
               }}
            }}
         }}
      }}
   }}
}}
Recent molecular sequence results obtained using [[collagen]]<ref name="Presslee2019">{{cite journal|last1= Presslee|first1= S.|last2= Slater|first2=G. J.|last3= Pujos|first3= F.|last4= Forasiepi|first4=A. M.|last5= Fischer|first5= R.|last6= Molloy|first6= K.|last7= Mackie|first7= M.|last8= Olsen|first8=J. V.|last9= Kramarz|first9= A.|last10= Taglioretti|first10= M.|last11= Scaglia|first11= F.|last12= Lezcano|first12= M.|last13= Lanata|first13=J. L.|last14= Southon|first14= J.|last15= Feranec|first15= R.|last16= Bloch|first16= J.|last17= Hajduk|first17= A.|last18= Martin|first18=F. M.|last19= Gismondi|first19= R. S.|last20= Reguero|first20 =M.|last21=de Muizon|first21= C.|last22= Greenwood|first22= A.|last23= Chait|first23=B. T.|last24= Penkman|first24= K.|author24-link= Kirsty Penkman |last25= Collins|first25= M.|last26= MacPhee|first26= R.D.E.|title= Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships|journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution|volume= 3|issue= 7|pages= 1121–1130|year= 2019|doi= 10.1038/s41559-019-0909-z|pmid= 31171860|bibcode= 2019NatEE...3.1121P|s2cid= 174813630|url= https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147061/1/5426_3_merged_1554730549.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147061/1/5426_3_merged_1554730549.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[mitochondrial]] DNA<ref name="Delsuc2019">{{cite journal|last1= Delsuc|first1= F.|last2= Kuch|first2= M.|last3= Gibb|first3=G. C.|last4= Karpinski|first4= E.|last5= Hackenberger|first5= D.|last6= Szpak|first6= P.|last7= Martínez|first7=J. G.|last8= Mead|first8=J. I.|last9= McDonald|first9=H. G.|last10= MacPhee|first10= R.D.E.|last11= Billet|first11= G.|last12= Hautier|first12= L.|last13= Poinar|first13=H. N.|title= Ancient Mitogenomes Reveal the Evolutionary History and Biogeography of Sloths|journal= Current Biology|volume= 29|issue= 12|pages= 2031–2042.e6|year= 2019|doi= 10.1016/j.cub.2019.05.043|pmid= 31178321|url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333647272|doi-access= free|bibcode= 2019CBio...29E2031D|hdl= 11336/136908|hdl-access= free}}</ref> extracted from fossils indicate that the closest living relatives of ''Mylodon'' are the two-toed sloths of genus ''[[Choloepus]]''. This revelation came as a surprise, since morphological analyses had previously suggested that two-toed sloths were close to [[Caribbean sloth]]s and ''[[Megalonyx]]'', now regarded as representing two separate and distant branches of the sloth evolutionary tree.

Some authors suggest that there were two species, with ''M. darwini'' restricted to the Pampas, with the Patagonian remains belonging to the separate species ''Mylodon listai.''<ref name=":0" />