A new giant megatheriine ground sloth (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Megatheriidae) from the late Blancan to early Irvingtonian of Florida

1999/12/01 by Gerardo De Iuliis, GERARDO IULIIS, Cástor Cartelle +1 · 5 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Psychology · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Primate Behavior and Ecology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1999.tb01383.x

Abstract

The giant megatheriine ground sloth Eremotherium eomigrans is described based on remains from the late Blancan to early Irvingtonian (late Pliocene to early Pleistocene) of Florida. It resembles the other giant megatheriines E. laurillardi and Megatherium americanum in size, but is clearly distinguished by a pentadactyl manus. It is assigned to the genus Eremotherium based on two ynapomorphies shared with E. laurillardi: a coarse and rugose ectotympanic that ventrally is prominently expanded mediolaterally, and contiguous articular facets of the axis for the atlas. E. eomigrans is the earliest megatheriine known to have migrated to North America across the Panamanian Land Bridge during the Great American Interchange.

Cited by

• The earliest well-documented occurrence of sexual dimorphism in extinct sloths: evolutionary and palaeoecological insights
• The presence of an atavistic caniniform alveolus in Nothrotherium maquinense (Xenarthra, Folivora, Nothrotheriidae)
• Recent Progress and Future Prospects in Fossil Xenarthran Studies, with Emphasis on Current Methodology in Sloth Taxonomy
• Systematics of the Early Miocene Eucholoeops (Xenarthra, Folivora, Megalonychidae). The Status of Eucholoeops latifrons
• The Status of Eucholoeops fronto and E. lafonei (Xenarthra, Folivora, Megalonychidae) in the Systematics of the Early Miocene Eucholoeops (Santa Cruz, Argentina)

Related

• Phylogenetic relationships among sloths (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Tardigrada): the craniodental evidence
• Nomenclatural history of Megalonyx Jefferson, 1799 (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Pilosa, Megalonychidae)
• On the Type of<i>Schismotherium fractum</i>Ameghino, 1887 (Xenarthra, Folivora, Megatherioidea) from the Early Miocene Santa Cruz Formation (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina)
• The Neotropical giant ground sloth <i>Ocnotherium giganteum</i> (Xenarthra: Mylodontinae) from the Late Pleistocene of Brazil: anatomy, palaeoneurology, and phylogenetic relationships
• The emergence and demise of giant sloths