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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 ...
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]
In many species of Megatherium, the lower jaw is relatively deep, which served to accommodate the very long hypselodont (evergrowing) teeth, [20] which are considerably proportionally longer than those of other ground sloths. Like other ground sloths, the number of teeth in the jaw is reduced to 5 and 4 teeth in each half of the upper and lower ...
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]
Nothrotheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 17.5 mya—10,000 years ago, existing for approximately 7] Previously placed within the tribe Nothrotheriini or subfamily Nothrotheriinae within Megatheriidae, they are now usually placed in their own family, Nothrotheriidae. [8]
The ground sloth thus forms the fifth most abundant representative of mammals in the Diamond Valley Lake Local Fauna after bison, horses, the mastodon Mammut pacificus, and the camel Camelops. In contrast, the two other sloths Megalonyx and Nothrotheriops that also occur in Rancho La Brea play are much less abundant, together accounting for 0.5 ...
Mylodon is an extinct genus of ground sloth belonging to the family Mylodontidae, known from southern South America.With a total length of 3 to 4 m and a body mass of 1-2 tonnes, it is one of the largest mylodontids (though it was considerably exceeded in size by the mylodontid Lestodon).
The articular surfaces as the point of attachment of the cervical spine curved far outwards and were relatively larger than in tree sloths and numerous other ground sloths. The parietal bones had a far outward curved shape, which was partly caused by the large cranial cavity with a volume of 1600 cm³. The strong zygomatic arch was closed ...