Prepoplanops | |
---|---|
Calcaneum of Prepoplanops boleadorensis | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Pilosa |
Family: | † Megatheriidae |
Subfamily: | † Planopsinae |
Genus: | † Prepoplanops Carlini et al. 2013 |
Species: | †P. boleadorensis |
Binomial name | |
†Prepoplanops boleadorensis Carlini et al. 2013 | |
Prepoplanops is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Megatheriidae. It lived in the Miocene around 18 to 16 million years ago of what is now Argentina. The only known species is Prepoplanops boleadorensis. [1]
Prepoplanops was a medium-sized ground sloth, about 1.5 to 2 meters long. [1]
Prepoplanops was a representative of the Planopsinae, a subfamily of megatheriids that lived during the Miocene. In particular, it appears that Prepoplanops was an intermediate form between Planops and Prepotherium.
Prepoplanops boleadorensis was first described in 2013, based on fossil remains found in Argentina's Santa Cruz Province in the Cerro Boleadoras Formation. [2]
Below is a phylogenetic tree of the Megatheriidae, based on the work of Varela and colleagues (2019). [3]
Hapalops is an extinct genus of ground sloth from the Early to Late Miocene of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Argentina in South America.
Protypotherium is an extinct genus of notoungulate mammals native to South America during the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. A number of closely related animals date back further, to the Eocene. Fossils of Protypotherium have been found in the Deseadan Fray Bentos Formation of Uruguay, Muyu Huasi and Nazareno Formations of Bolivia, Cura-Mallín and Río Frías Formations of Chile, and Santa Cruz, Salicas, Ituzaingó, Aisol, Cerro Azul, Cerro Bandera, Cerro Boleadoras, Chichinales, Sarmiento and Collón Curá Formations of Argentina.
Nothrotheriops is a genus of Pleistocene ground sloth found in North America, from what is now central Mexico to the southern United States. This genus of bear-sized xenarthran was related to the much larger, and far more famous Megatherium, although it has recently been placed in a different family, Nothrotheriidae. The best known species, N. shastensis, is also called the Shasta ground sloth.
Thalassocnus is an extinct genus of semiaquatic ground sloths from the Miocene and Pliocene of the Pacific South American coast. It is monotypic within the subfamily Thalassocninae. The five species—T. antiquus, T. natans, T. littoralis, T. carolomartini, and T. yuacensis—represent a chronospecies, a population gradually adapting to marine life in one direct lineage. They are the only known aquatic sloths, but they may have also been adapted to a terrestrial lifestyle. They have been found in the Pisco Formation of Peru, the Tafna Formation of Argentina, and the Bahía Inglesa, Coquimbo, and Horcón formations of Chile. Thalassocninae has been placed in both the families Megatheriidae and Nothrotheriidae.
Eremotherium is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth in the family Megatheriidae. Eremotherium lived in southern North America, Central America, and northern South America from the Pliocene, around 5.3 million years ago, to the end of the Late Pleistocene, around 10,000 years ago. Eremotherium was one of the largest ground sloths, with a body size comparable to elephants, with estimated body mass of 3–6.55 tonnes (6,600–14,400 lb) and a body length of 6 metres (20 ft), being rivalled in size among ground sloths only by its close relative Megatherium. Eremotherium was widespread in tropical and subtropical lowlands and lived there in partly open and closed landscapes, while its close relative Megatherium lived in more temperate climes of South America. Characteristic of Eremotherium was its robust physique with comparatively long limbs and front and hind feet especially for later representatives- three fingers. However, the skull is relatively gracile, the teeth are uniform and high-crowned. Like today's sloths, Eremotherium was purely herbivorous and was probably a mixed feeder that dined on leaves and grasses. Eremotherium was a generalist that could adapt its diet to the respective local and climatic conditions of many regions. Finds of Eremotherium are common and widespread, with fossils being found as far north as South Carolina in the United States and as far south as Rio Grande Do Sul in Brazil, and many complete skeletons have been unearthed.
Nematherium is an extinct genus of ground sloth belonging to Mylodontoidea, it is either considered to be a member of Mylodontidae or Scelidotheriidae. It lived during the Middle Miocene epoch (Santacrucian). Fossils have been found in the Cura-Mallín Formation of Chile and the Santa Cruz and Sarmiento Formations of Argentina.
Hegetotherium is an extinct genus of mammals from the Early to Middle Miocene of South America. Fossils of this genus have been found in the Cerro Bandera, Cerro Boleadoras, Chichinales, Collón Curá, Santa Cruz and Sarmiento Formations of Argentina, the Nazareno Formation of Bolivia, and the Galera and Río Frías Formations of Chile.
Proschismotherium is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Megalonychidae, endemic to Argentina during the Early Miocene. It lived from 17.5 mya — 16.3 mya, existing for approximately 1.2 million years. The type, and only, species, P. oppositum, was named in 1902 by Florentino Ameghino based on a single specimen found in the Santacrucian-aged Colpodon Beds of Argentina. Ameghino in 1902 placed Proschismotherium in the Megatheriidae, alongside Hapaloides, which was its sister taxon.
Megatheriinae is a subfamily of the Megatheriidae, an extinct family of ground sloths that lived from the Middle Miocene to the Early Holocene.
Pseudoprepotherium is an extinct genus of sloths of the family Mylodontidae. It was widespread across northern South America during the Early to Late Miocene epoch around 21 to 5.3 million years ago. Fossils of the animal have been found in Brazil, Venezuela, and Peru. Pseudoprepotherium lived in a tropical climate with a water-rich environment. Their known remains are limited to limb bones, except for a few skulls and teeth. Based on these remains, they were most likely medium to large-sized mylodontid. The genus was described in 1961 and currently contains three species, which were originally assigned to the genus Prepotherium.
Megathericulus is an extinct genus of ground sloths in the Megatheriidae family. It lived during the Middle Miocene, 11-16 Ma in what is now South America. Fossils have been found principally in Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru. It is a smaller representative of the megatheres. Despite being one of the earliest-known members of the family, its dentition structure is associated with homodont teeth belonging to the more modern line of evolution. The genus was scientifically named in 1904. Only one species is currently recognized, Megathericulus patagonicus.
Proeremotherium is an extinct genus of megatheriine ground sloths in the family Megatheriidae. It lived during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene of what is now Venezuela. So far, two largely complete skulls have been recovered in the Falcón Basin in Venezuela. The finds identify the animals as medium-sized representatives of the Megatheriidae. In the cranial anatomy, Proeremotherium resembles the later and giant Eremotherium. It is therefore assumed that the two ground sloths are directly related to each other.
Baraguatherium is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Mylodontidae that lived during the Early Miocene of what is now Venezuela. It dates to the Early Miocene, around 20.44 to 15.97 million years ago and represents the oldest representative of its family in the northern part of South America to date. The structure of the teeth suggests that the genus represents a rather basal form within the Mylodontidae. Unlike other mylodonts, which tended to prefer open grasslands, Baraguatherium lived in a riverine, coastal tropical rainforest.
Lakukullus is an extinct genus of nothrotheriid ground sloths that lived during the Middle Miocene around 13.8 to 11.8 million years ago of what is now Bolivia.
Bolivartherium is an extinct genus of mylodontine mylodontid sloth that lived during the Late Miocene and Late Pliocene in what is now Venezuela. Fossils have been found in the Codore and Urumaco Formations of Venezuela.
Boleatherium is an extinct genus of interatheriid notoungulate that lived from the Early to Middle Miocene of what is now Argentina. Fossils of this genus have been found in the Cerro Boleadoras Formation, the formation which this genus was named after.
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.
Perimys is an extinct genus of neoepiblemid rodent that lived from the Early to Late Miocene in what is now South America. Fossils have been found in the Cerro Bandera, Cerro Boleadoras, Ituzaingó, Santa Cruz, and Sarmiento Formations of Argentina, and the Galera, Santa Cruz and Río Frías Formations of Chile.
The Santa Cruz Formation is a geological formation in the Magallanes/Austral Basin in southern Patagonia in Argentina and in adjacent areas of Chile. It dates to the late Early Miocene epoch, and is contemporaneous with eponymous Santacrucian SALMA. The formation extends from the Andes to the Atlantic coast. In its coastal section it is divided into two members, the lower, fossil rich Estancia La Costa Member, which has a lithology predominantly consisting of tuffaceous deposits and fine grained sedimentary claystone and mudstone, and the upper fossil-poor Estancia La Angelina Member, which consists of sedimentary rock, primarily claystone, mudstone, and sandstone. The environment of deposition is interpreted to have been mostly fluvial, with the lowermost part of the Estancia La Costa Member being transitional between fluvial and marine conditions. The environment of the Estancia La Costa Member is thought to have been relatively warm and humid, but likely became somewhat cooler and drier towards the end of the sequence. The Santa Cruz Formation is known for its abundance of South American native ungulates, as well as an abundance of rodents, xenarthrans, and metatherians.
Ortotherium is a genus of megalonychid ground sloth from the Late Miocene Ituzaingó Formation of Entre Rios Province, Argentina. Although many species were described, the only valid species of the genus is Ortotherium laticurvatum, with many species being junior synonyms. Ortotherium is known from very fragmentary material, all of which is material from the mandible and teeth. The holotype of O. laticurvatum consists of an incomplete left dentary that had been unearthed from a series of sediments known as ‘Conglomerado osifero’ in Paraná, Argentina. Argentina paleontologist Florentino Ameghino named the species in 1885, though he would go on to name four more, invalid, species of the genus. One species however, O. brevirostrum, has been reclassified as Mesopotamocnus.