text: The Pliocene ( ; archaically Pleiocene ) Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present .
simplified: The Pliocene ( Pleiocene in older texts ) is a short epoch at the end of the Neogene . It lasted from 5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago .