Temporal range: Late Oligocene (Deseadan)-Early Holocene (Lujanian) ~29–0.008 Ma
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Eremotherium skeleton, NMNH, Washington, DC.
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Pilosa
Clade:
†Megatheria
Family:
†Megatheriidae J. E. Gray 1821
Type genus
†Megatherium americanum
Subgroups
†Thalassocnus?[1][2]
†Planopsinae
†Planops
†Prepoplanops
†Prepotherium
†Proprepotherium
†Megatheriinae
Closeup of hand, showing clawsCloseup 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. The group includes the heavily built Megatherium (given its name 'great beast' by Georges Cuvier[4]) and Eremotherium. An early genus that was originally considered a megatheriid, the more slightly built Hapalops, reached a length of about 1.2 metres (3.9 ft). The nothrotheres have recently been placed in their own family, Nothrotheriidae.[5]
The skeletal structure of these ground sloths indicates that the animals were massive. Their thick bones and even thicker joints (especially those on the hind legs) gave their appendages tremendous power that, combined with their size and fearsome claws, provided a formidable defense against predators.
The earliest megatheriid in North America was Sibotherium which arrived 5.3 million years ago, after crossing the recently formed Panamanian land bridge. At more than five tons in weight, 6 metres (20 ft) in length, and able to reach as high as 5.2 metres (17 ft), Eremotherium was taller than an African bush elephant bull. Unlike relatives, this species retained a plesiomorphic extra claw. While other species of Eremotherium had four fingers with only two or three claws, E. eomigrans had five fingers, four of them with claws up to nearly 30 centimetres (1 ft) long.[6]
^Eli Amson; Christian de Muizon; Timothy J. Gaudin (2017). "A reappraisal of the phylogeny of the Megatheria (Mammalia: Tardigrada), with an emphasis on the relationships of the Thalassocninae, the marine sloths" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 179 (1): 217–236. doi:10.1111/zoj.12450.
^Varela, L.; Tambusso, P.S.; McDonald, H.G.; Fariña, R.A.; Fieldman, M. (2019). "Phylogeny, Macroevolutionary Trends and Historical Biogeography of Sloths: Insights From a Bayesian Morphological Clock Analysis". Systematic Biology. 68 (2): 204–218. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syy058. PMID 30239971.
^Paleobiology Database: Megatheriidae
^G. Cuvier (1796)
^Muizon, C. de; McDonald, H. G.; Salas, R.; Urbina, M. (June 2004). "The Youngest Species of the Aquatic Sloth Thalassocnus and a Reassessment of the Relationships of the Nothrothere Sloths (Mammalia: Xenarthra)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 24 (2). Society of Vertebrate Paleontology: 387–397. Bibcode:2004JVPal..24..387D. doi:10.1671/2429a. S2CID 83732878. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
Megatheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 23 mya—11,000 years ago. Megatheriids appeared during the Late Oligocene...
that they had well developed claws. In many ground sloth families (Megatheriidae, Mylodontidae, Scelidotheriidae and Nothrotheriidae), the hindfoot is...
known from the Andean region. Megatherium is part of the sloth family Megatheriidae, which also includes the similarly giant Eremotherium, comparable in...
θηρίον "beast") is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth in the family Megatheriidae. Eremotherium lived in southern North America, Central America, and...
formations of Chile. Thalassocninae has been placed in both the families Megatheriidae and Nothrotheriidae. Thalassocnus evolved several marine adaptations...
subfamily of the Megatheriidae, an extinct family of ground sloths that lived from the Middle Miocene to the Early Holocene. Within the Megatheriidae there are...
both the two-toed sloths and the extinct Greater Antilles sloths. †Megatheriidae: ground sloths that existed for about 23 million years and went extinct...
within the tribe Nothrotheriini or subfamily Nothrotheriinae within Megatheriidae, they are now usually placed in their own family, Nothrotheriidae. Nothrotheriids...
(1999): A new giant megatheriine ground sloth (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Megatheriidae) from the late Blancan to early Irvingtonian of Florida. Zool. J. Linn...
in the Pleistocene Ground Sloth Nothrotheriops shastense (Mammalia, Megatheriidae), Contributions in Science 389, October 1987, Natural History Museum...
Sibotherium is an extinct genus of ground sloth in the family Megatheriidae that lived in what is now Costa Rica during the Late Miocene. It was a large...
This is a list of North American mammals. It includes all mammals currently found in the United States, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Canada, Greenland, Bermuda...
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...
torquatus Family †Megalonychidae: megalonychid ground sloths Family †Megatheriidae: megatheriid ground sloths Family †Nothrotheriidae: nothrotheriid ground...
1999). "A new giant megatheriine ground sloth (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Megatheriidae) from the late Blancan to early Irvingtonian of Florida". Zoological...
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...
Isla, Federico (1 April 2021). "A new record of Megatherium (Folivora, Megatheriidae) in the late Pliocene of the Pampean region (Argentina)". Journal of...
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...
characteristic of the mylodonts, which clearly differs from that of the Megatheriidae and Megalonychidae with their two transverse raised ridges per tooth...
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