Megalocnus rodens, an extinct Cuban megalocnid sloth (AMNH)
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Pilosa
Suborder:
Folivora
Family:
†Megalocnidae Presslee et al, 2019 (as family)
Genera
†Acratocnus
†Imagocnus
†Megalocnus
†Mesocnus
†Neocnus
†Parocnus
Synonyms
Megalocnoidea Delsuc et al, 2019
Megalocnidae is an extinct family (alternatively considered to be a superfamily as Megalocnoidea) of sloths, native to the islands of the Greater Antilles from the Early Oligocene to the Mid-Holocene. They are known from Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, but are absent from Jamaica. While they were formerly placed in the Megalonychidae alongside two-toed sloths and ground sloths like Megalonyx, recent mitochondrial DNA and collagen sequencing studies place them as the earliest diverging group basal to all other sloths.[1][2] or as an outgroup to Megatherioidea.[3] They displayed significant diversity in body size and lifestyle, with Megalocnus being terrestrial and probably weighing several hundred kilograms, while Neocnus was likely arboreal and similar in weight to extant tree sloths, at less than 10 kilograms.[4]
^Delsuc, F.; Kuch, M.; Gibb, G.C.; Karpinski, E.; Hackenberger, D.; Szpak, P.; Martínez, J.G.; Mead, J.I.; McDonald, H.G.; MacPhee, R.D.E.; Billet, G. (June 2019). "Ancient Mitogenomes Reveal the Evolutionary History and Biogeography of Sloths". Current Biology. 29 (12): 2031–2042.e6. Bibcode:2019CBio...29E2031D. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.05.043. hdl:11336/136908. PMID 31178321.
Megalocnidae is an extinct family (alternatively considered to be a superfamily as Megalocnoidea) of sloths, native to the islands of the Greater Antilles...
2001 (Sloths) Superfamily †Megalocnoidea Delsuc et al. 2019 Family †Megalocnidae Delsuc et al. 2019 (megalocnid ground sloths of the Caribbean) Superfamily...
which have living species; the remainder are entirely extinct (†): †Megalocnidae: the Greater Antilles sloths, a basal group that arose about 32 million...
Holocene epochs. They were among the largest of the Caribbean sloths (Megalocnidae), with individuals estimated to have weighed up to 270 kg (595 lbs) to...
genus of sloth native to Cuba and Hispaniola, belonging to the family Megalocnidae. It was a terrestrial ground sloth, being the second largest Caribbean...
separate basal branch of the sloth radiation, now placed in the family Megalocnidae. Fossils of Acratocnus were found on the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba...
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...
represent a single radiation which has been designated as the family Megalocnidae. All Greater Antillean sloths are now extinct; their extinction by ~4400...
This is a list of Antillian and Bermudan animals extinct in the Holocene that covers extinctions from the Holocene epoch, a geologic epoch that began about...
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