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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 ...
Sloths belong to the superorder Xenarthra, a group of placental mammals believed to have evolved in the continent of South America around 60 million years ago. [6] One study found that xenarthrans broke off from other placental mammals around 100 million years ago. [7] Anteaters and armadillos are also included among Xenarthra.
Ground sloths varied widely in size from under 100 kilograms (220 lb) in the Caribbean ground sloths, to 3,700–4,100 kilograms (8,200–9,000 lb) in the largest ground sloth genera Megatherium, Lestodon and Eremotherium. [8] [9] The bodies of ground sloths were generally barrel-shaped, with a broad pelvis. [10]
A morphological tree of Megalonychidae, based on the work of Stinnesbeck and colleagues (2021). [15] ( Note that this tree does not conform to genetic studies, as it includes the Caribbean sloths Neocnus, Parocnus Megalocnus and Arcatocnus which have been placed in the separate family Megalocnidae, well as the two toed sloths (Choloepus), which are placed in the clade Mylodontoidea).
Megalonyx (Greek, "great-claw") is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae, native to North America.It evolved during the Pliocene Epoch and became extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene, living from ~5 million to ~13,000 years ago. [3]
The sloths we know and love today may be small and slow, but they're survivors. Unfortunately, the bulk of sloth species that once roamed the earth -- some of which grew to be the size of ...
Illustration of the first specimen of Megatherium americanum from 1796 Life illustration of Megatherium americanum from 1863, depicting it with a short trunk. The earliest specimen of Megatherium americanum was discovered in 1787 by Manuel de Torres, a Dominican friar and naturalist, from a ravine on the banks of the Lujan River in what is now northern Argentina, which at the time was part of ...
Sloths spend most of their time high up in the tree canopies of the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, including Brazil and Peru. They curl up in the branches or hang upside down ...