Pliometanastes
| Pliometanastes Temporal range: Miocene–Pliocene | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Xenarthra |
| Infraorder: | Pilosa |
| Family: | Megalonychidae |
| Genus: | †Pliometanastes |
| Species | |
| |
Pliometanastes is an extinct genus of giant ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae endemic to North America during the Miocene epoch through very early Pliocene epoch. Its fossils have been found across the southern U. S. from California to Florida.[1]
Pliometanastes and Thinobadistes were the first of the giant sloths to appear in N. America. Both were in N. America before the Panamanian Land Bridge formed around 2.5 million years ago. It is then reasonable to presume that the ancestors of Pliometanastes island-hopped across the Central American Seaway from South America, where ground sloths arose.[2]
Pliometanastes gave rise to Megalonyx. Their closest extant relatives are the two-toed arboreal sloths (Choloepus).
Taxonomy
Pliometanastes was named by Hirschfeld and Webb (1968). Its type is Pliometanastes protistus. It was assigned to Megalonychidae by Hirschfeld and Webb (1968) and Carroll (1988).[3][4]
Fossil distribution
Sites and ages of specimens (not complete list):
- Withlacoochee River Site 4A, Marion County, Florida ~10.3-4.9 Mya.
- Haile Site V/XIXA, Alachua County, Florida ~10.3-4.9 Mya.
- Box T, Lipscomb County, Texas ~23-5.3 Mya.
- Klipstein Ranch site 3, Kern County, California ~23-5.3 Mya.
References
- ↑ "Pliometanastes". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ↑ Tetrapod Zoology, Scienceblogs, Ten things you didn't know about sloths, by Darien Naish, University of Portsmouth January 23, 2007.
- ↑ S. E. Hirschfeld and S. D. Webb. 1968. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 12(5)
- ↑ R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698