Tremarctinae

Tremarctinae Temporal range: late Miocene–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Spectacled bear, Arctodus simus and Arctotherium bonariense
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Subfamily:	Tremarctinae Merriam & Stock, 1925
Genera
†Plionarctos †Arctodus †Arctotherium Tremarctos

The Tremarctinae or short-faced bears is a subfamily of Ursidae that contains one living representative, the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) of South America, and several extinct species from four genera: the Florida spectacled bear (Tremarctos floridanus), the North American giant short-faced bears Arctodus (A. pristinus and A. simus), the South American giant short-faced bear Arctotherium (including A. angustidens, A. vetustum, A. bonariense, A. wingei, and A. tarijense) as well as Plionarctos (P. edensis and P. harroldorum), which is thought to be ancestral to the other three genera.^[1] Of these, the giant short-faced bears (Arctodus simus and Arctotherium angustidens) may have been the largest ever carnivorans in the Americas. The group is thought to have originated in eastern North America, and then invaded South America as part of the Great American Interchange. Most short-faced bears became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene.