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Megatherium americanum Cuvier, 1796

 

 

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Megatherium cuvieri Desmarest, 1822

 

Conservation Status

Extinct

Last record: Late Pleistocene

 

Distribution

Central and South America

 

Biology & Ecology

 

 

Hypodigm

 

 

Media

 

 

References

Original scientific description:

Cuvier, Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric (Georges). (1796). Notice sur le squelette d' une tres grande espéce de quadrupéde inconnue jusqu' á présent, trouvé au Paraguay, et déposé au Cabinet dªHistoire Naturelle de Madrid. Magazin Encyclopédique, ou Journal des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts, Vol. 2-3, No. 1, p. 303-310. Paris.

 

Other references:

Author? (1993-1996). Giant Ground Sloth Survival Proposed Anew. ISC Newsletter 12(1): 1-5.

Bargo, M. S. (2001). The ground sloth Megatherium americanum: Skull shape, bite forces, and diet. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 46 (2): 173–192.

Bargo, M. S. and De Iuliis, G. (1999). Hypsodonty and bilophodonty in Megatherium americanum (Xenarthra, Tardigrada): a paradox. In: B. Shockey & F. Anaya (eds.), Abstracts of the Congress Neotropical Evolution of the Cenozoic 11. La Paz, Bolivia.

Blanco, R. Ernesto and Czerwonogora, Ada. (2003). The gait of Megatherium Cuvier 1796 (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Megatheriidae). Senckenbergiana biologica 83(1): 1-8.

Borrero LA, Zárate M, Miotti L, and Massone M (1998). The Pleistocene-Holocene transition and human occupations in the Southern C one of South America. Quaternary International 49/50, 191–199

Casamiquela, R. (1974). El bipedismo de los megaterioideos.Estudio de pisadas fósiles en la Formación de RíoNegro típica. Ameghiniana 11: 249-282.

Casinos, A. (1996). Bipedalism and quadrupedalism in Megatherium Cuvier 1796: an attempt at biomechanichal reconstruction. Lethaia 29: 87-96. [Abstract]

Chichkoyan, Karina V. et al. (2017). Description and interpretation of a Megatherium americanum atlas with evidence of human intervention. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafa (Research in Paleontology and Stratigraphy) 123(1): 51-64.

Chichkoyan, Karina V., Villa, C., Winkler, V., Manuelli, L., and Acuña Suarez, G. E. (2022). Paleopathologies of the clavicles of the Megatherium americanum Cuvier 1796 (Xenarthra, Mammalia) (giant ground sloth) from the Pampean Pleistocene (Argentina). Ameghiniana 59(6): 390-406. https://doi.org/10.5710/AMGH.15.10.2022.3509

Dantas, Mário A. T., Campbell, Sean Cody and McDonald, H. Gregory. (2023). Paleoecological inferences about the Late Quaternary giant ground sloths from the Americas. Research Square preprint. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2992768/v1

Fariňa, R. A. and Blanco, R. E. (1996). Megatherium, the stabber. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 263: 1725-1729. [Abstract]

Fariña, Richard A., Vizcaíno, Sergio F. and Bargo, María S. (1998). Body mass estimations in Lujanian (late Pleistocene-Holocene of South America) mammal megafauna. Mastozoología Neotropical 5(2): 87-108.

Fernicola, J. C., Vizcaino, F, and de Iuliis, G. (2009). The Fossil Mammals collected by Charles Darwin in South America during his travels on board the HMS Beagle. Revista de la Asociatión Geológica Argentina 64(1): 147-159.

Ferrero B., Brandoni D., Noriega J.I., Carlini A.A. 2007 Mamíferos de la Formación El Palmar (Pleistoceno tardío) de la provincia de Entre Ríos, Argentina. Revista del Museo 9(2), 109-117.

Gallo, V. et al. (2013). Distributional patterns of herbivore megamammals during the Late Pleistocene of South America. An. Acad. Bras. Ciênc. 85(2): 533-546.

Glass, Jessica R., Davis, Matt, Walsh, Timothy J., Sargis Eric J. and Caccone, Adalgisa. (2016). Was Frozen Mammoth or Giant Ground Sloth Served for Dinner at The Explorers Club? PLoS ONE 11(2): e0146825.

Green, Jeremy L. and Kalthoff, Daniela C. (2015). Xenarthran dental microstructure and dental microwear analyses, with new data for [i]Megatherium americanum[/i] (Megatheriidae). Journal of Mammalogy xx(x):1-13.

Hubbe A., Hubbe M., Neves W. 2007 Early Holocene survival of megafauna in South America. Journal of Biogeography 34(9), 1642-1646.

Lee, Stephen and Curiel, Marcos. (2020). Megatherium americanum Feeding and Digestion.

Lima-Ribeiro, Matheus Souza et al. (2012). Potential Suitable Areas of Giant Ground Sloths Dropped Before its Extinction in South America: the Evidences from Bioclimatic Envelope Modeling. Natureza & Conservação 10(2): 145-151.

Lopes, Renato Pereira et al. (2021a). The Santa Vitória Alloformation: an update on a Pleistocene fossil-rich unit in Southern Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Geology 51(1): e2020065.

Lopes, Renato Pereira, Dillenburg, S. R., Pereira, J. C. and Sial, A. N. (2021b). The paleoecology of Pleistocene giant megatheriid sloths: stable isotopes (δ13C, δ18O) of co-occurring Megatherium and Eremotherium from southern Brazil. Revista Brasileira De Paleontologia 24(3): 245-264. https://doi.org/10.4072/rbp.2021.3.06

McDonald, H. Gregory. (2023). A Tale of Two Continents (and a Few Islands): Ecology and Distribution of Late Pleistocene Sloths. Land 12(6): 1192. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12061192

Owen, Richard. (1851). On the Megatherium (Megatherium americanum, Blumenbach). I. Preliminary observations on the exogenous processes of vertebrae. -Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [b]141[/b]: 719-764.

Owen, Richard. (1856). On the Megatherium (Megatherium americanum Cuvier and Blumenbach). 111. The skull. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 146: 571-589.

Patiño, Santiago et al. (2021). Finite element and morphological analysis in extant mammals’ claws and quaternary sloths’ ungual phalanges. Historical Biology 33(6): 857-867. [Abstract]

Pimentel, Juan (author) and Mason, Peter (translator). (2017). The Rhinoceros and the Megatherium: An Essay in Natural History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Pinero, J. M. L. (1988). Juan Bautista Bru (1740-1799) and the description of the genus Megatherium. Journal of the History of Biology 21(1): 147-163. [Abstract]

Politis, Gustavo G. et al. (2019). Campo Laborde: A Late Pleistocene giant ground sloth kill and butchering site in the Pampas. Science Advances 5 : eaau4546.

Prado, J.L.; Alberdi, M.T.; Bellinzoni, J. (2021). Pleistocene Mammals from Pampean Region (Argentina). Biostratigraphic, Biogeographic, and Environmental Implications. Quaternary 4: 15. https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4020015

Prates, Luciano and Perez, S. Ivan. (2021). Late Pleistocene South American megafaunal extinctions associated with rise of Fishtail points and human population. Nature Communications 12: 2175.

Agustín Scanferlaa, Ricardo Boninib, Lucas Pomib, Enrique Fucksc and Alejandro Molinari. (In press). New Late Pleistocene megafaunal assemblage with well-supported chronology from the Pampas of southern South America. Quaternary International. [Abstract]

Bruce J. Shockey, Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi, Patrice Baby, Jean-Loup Guyot, María Cristina Baltazar, Luis Huamán, Andrew Clack, Marcelo Stucchi, François Pujos, Jenna María Emerson, and John J. Flynn. (2009). New Pleistocene cave faunas of the Andes of central Perú: radiocarbon ages and the survival of low latitude, Pleistocene DNA. Palaeontologia Electronica 12.3.15A.

Smith F.A., Lyons S.K., Ernest S.K.M., Jones K.E., Kaufman D.M., Dayan T., Marquet P.A., Brown J.H., Haskell J.P. 2003 Body mass of late Quaternary mammals. Ecology 84(12), 3403-3403.

Tauber, Adán A., Alvarez, Daniel and Luna, Carlos. (2008). Registro de Megatherium americanum Cuvier, 1796 en una pampa de altura de las Sierras de Córdoba. XVII Congreso Geológico Argentino (San Salvador de Jujuy), Actas: Tomo III: 1055-1056.

Toledo, Néstor, De Iuliis, Gerardo, Vizcaíno, Sergio F. and Bargo, M. Susana. (2017). The Concept of a Pedolateral Pes Revisited: The Giant Sloths Megatherium and Eremotherium (Xenarthra, Folivora, Megatheriinae) as a Case Study. Journal of Mammalian Evolution. [Abstract]

Turvey, Samuel T. (2009). In the shadow of the megafauna: prehistoric mammal and bird extinctions across the Holocene, pp. 17-39. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ubilla M., Perea D., Goso Aguilar C., Lorenzo N. 2004 Late Pleistocene vertebrates from northern Uruguay: tools for biostratigraphic, climatic and environmental reconstruction. Quaternary International 114(1), 129-142.

Varela, Luciano, Tambusso, P. Sebastián, Patiño, Santiago J., Di Giacomo, Mariana and Fariña, Richard A. (2017). Potential Distribution of Fossil Xenarthrans in South America during the Late Pleistocene: co-Occurrence and Provincialism. Journal of Mammalian Evolution. [Abstract]

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/426/megatherium-americanum

 

 

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