Two-toed Sloth

Two-toed Sloth

Choloepus is a genus of mammals of Central and South America, within the family Megalonychidae consisting of two-toed sloths. There are only two species of Choloepus (which name means "lame foot"): Linnaeus's two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus) and Hoffmann's two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni). These two species are the only surviving members of the family Megalonychidae.

Although similar to the somewhat smaller and generally slower moving three-toed sloths (Bradypus), there is not a close relationship between the two genera. Recent phylogenetic analyses support analysis of morphological data from the 1970s and 1980s, suggesting that the two genera are not closely related and that each adopted their arboreal lifestyles independently. It is unclear what, if any, ground-dwelling sloth taxa the three-toed sloths evolved from; the two-toed sloths appear to nest phylogenetically within one of the divisions of Caribbean megalonychids, and thus probably either descended from them or are part of a clade that invaded the Caribbean multiple times. Both types tend to occupy the same forests: in most areas, a particular single species of three-toed sloth and a single species of the larger two-toed type will jointly predominate.