Thinobadistes is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of actively mobile ground sloth

Ground sloth

Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths, in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. Their most recent survivors lived in the Antilles, where it has been proposed they may have survived until 1550 CE; however, the youngest AMS radiocarbon date reported is 4190 BP, calibrated to c. 4700 BP...

 of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Mylodontidae

Mylodontidae

Mylodontidae is a family of extinct mammals within the order of Pilosa and suborder Folivora living from approximately 23 mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately . This family of ground sloths is related to the other families of extinct ground sloths, being the Megatheriidae, the...

, endemic to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 during the Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

-Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 epochs. It lived from 13.6—5.3 mya, existing for approximately .

Thinobadistes and Pliometanastes

Pliometanastes

Pliometanastes is an extinct genus of giant ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae endemic to North America during the Miocene epoch through very early Pliocene epoch. Its fossils have been found across the southern U. S. from California to Florida....

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

Isthmus of Panama

The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal...

 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

Central American Seaway

The Central American Seaway, also called the Panamanic Seaway or Inter-American Seaway was an ancient body of water that once separated North America from South America...

 from South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, where ground sloths first evolved.

Taxonomy

Thinobadistes was named by Hay (1919). Its type is Thinobadistes segnis. It was assigned to Mylodontidae

Mylodontidae

Mylodontidae is a family of extinct mammals within the order of Pilosa and suborder Folivora living from approximately 23 mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately . This family of ground sloths is related to the other families of extinct ground sloths, being the Megatheriidae, the...

by Hay (1919) and Carroll (1988).