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Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. They varied widely in size with the largest, belonging to genera Lestodon, Eremotherium and Megatherium, being around the size of elephants. Ground sloths represent a paraphyletic group, as living tree sloths are thought to have evolved from ground sloth ...
Though fairly small compared to the giant ground sloths of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, Eucholoeops was larger than any modern species, and with an estimated body mass of 80 kg (180 lb). In many ways it resembles Hapalops , to the point where the two genera were briefly regarded as one and the same.
Nothrotheriops is a genus of Pleistocene ground sloth found in North America, from what is now central Mexico to the southern United States. [1] 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. [2]
The last ground sloths in North America belonging to Nothrotheriidae, the Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis), died so recently that their dried subfossilized dung has remained undisturbed in some caves – such as the Rampart Cave, located on the Arizona side of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area – as if it were just recently ...
The latter results indicate that Choloepodidae is closer to Mylodontidae than Scelidotheriidae is. The only other living sloth family, Bradypodidae (three-toed sloths), belongs to a different sloth radiation, Megatherioidea. [5] [6] The mylodontoids form one of three major radiations of sloths.
Closeup of hand, showing claws Closeup of skull. Megatheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 23 mya—11,000 years ago. [3]Megatheriids appeared during the Late Oligocene (Deseadan in the SALMA classification), some 29 million years ago, in South America.
Eremotherium laurillardi skeleton at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Eremotherium was slightly larger than the closely related Megatherium in size, reaching an overall length of 6 metres (20 ft) and a height of 2 metres (6.6 ft) while on all fours, possibly up to 4 metres (13 ft) when it reared up on its hind legs. [25]
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]