Choloepus is a genus of xenarthran mammals of Central and South America within the monotypic family Choloepodidae, consisting of two-toed sloths (also less misleadingly known as "two-fingered" sloths).[2][3] The two species of Choloepus (which means "lame foot"[4]), Linnaeus's two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus) and Hoffmann's two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni), were formerly believed on the basis of morphological studies to be the only surviving members of the sloth family Megalonychidae,[5] but have now been shown by molecular results to be closest to extinct ground sloths of the family Mylodontidae.[2][3]