Analcitherium

Analcitherium Temporal range: Early Miocene (Santacrucian) ~17.5  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Pilosa
Family:	† Scelidotheriidae
Genus:	† Analcitherium Ameghino, 1891
Species:	†A. antarticum
Binomial name
†Analcitherium antarticum Ameghino, 1891

Analcitherium is an extinct genus of scelidotheriid sloth that lived during the Early Miocene in what is now Argentina. Fossils have been found in the Santa Cruz Formation of Argentina. ^[1]

Taxonomy

Analcitherium was first named by Florentino Ameghino in 1891 based on fossils found in Argentina, dating to the Early Miocene. Originally thought to belong to a juvenile Nematherium , ^[2] it is now usually considered to be a distinct genus.

Analcitherium is a member of the Scelidotheriidae, a group of terrestrial sloths known from the Oligocene and Pleistocene that a characterized by an elongated snout. Although scelidotheriids are usually placed as a subfamily of the Mylodontidae, they are sometimes considered to be a separate family, Scelidotheriidae. ^[3]

Below is a phylogenetic tree of the Mylodontidae, based on the work of Varela et al. 2018. ^[4]

Mylodontidae	Nematherium Scelidotheriinae Analcitherium Neonematherium Sibyllotherium Proscelidodon Catonyx Scelidotherium Valgipes Pseudoprepotherium Orophodontinae? Brievabradys Octodontotherium Paroctodontotherium Octomylodon Urumacotherium Baraguatherium Octodontobradys Mylodontinae Mylodon Thinobadistes Lestodon Lestobradys Bolivartherium Simomylodon Pleurolestodon Glossotherium Paramylodon

References

1. Toledo, Néstor; Cassini, Guillermo Hernán; Vizcaíno, Sergio Fabián; Bargo, M. Susana (June 2014). "Mass Estimation of Santacrucian Sloths from the Early Miocene Santa Cruz Formation of Patagonia, Argentina" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 59 (2): 267–280. doi: 10.4202/app.2012.0009 . ISSN   0567-7920.
2. Simpson, George Gaylord; Bird, Junius Bouton (1941). "A Miocene sloth from southern Chile" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (1156): 1–5.
3. Presslee, S.; Slater, G. J.; Pujos, F.; Forasiepi, A. M.; Fischer, R.; Molloy, K.; Mackie, M.; Olsen, J. V.; Kramarz, A.; Taglioretti, M.; Scaglia, F.; Lezcano, M.; Lanata, J. L.; Southon, J.; Feranec, R.; Bloch, J.; Hajduk, A.; Martin, F. M.; Gismondi, R. S.; Reguero, M.; de Muizon, C.; Greenwood, A.; Chait, B. T.; Penkman, K.; Collins, M.; MacPhee, R.D.E. (2019). "Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships" (PDF). Nature Ecology & Evolution. 3 (7): 1121–1130. Bibcode:2019NatEE...3.1121P. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0909-z. PMID   31171860. S2CID   174813630.
4. Varela, L.; Tambusso, P. S.; McDonald, H. G.; Fariña, R. A. (2018). "Phylogeny, Macroevolutionary Trends and Historical Biogeography of Sloths: Insights From a Bayesian Morphological Clock Analysis". Systematic Biology. 68 (2): 204–218. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syy058. PMID   30239971.