Biology:Scelidotheriidae

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Short description: Extinct family of prehistoric ground sloths

Scelidotheriidae
Temporal range: Late Oligocene-Late Pleistocene (Deseadan-Lujanian)
~29–0.010 Ma
Scelidotherium leptocephalum side.jpg
Scelidotherium leptocephalum in Paris
Scientific classification e
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Pilosa
Superfamily: Mylodontoidea
Family: Scelidotheriidae
Ameghino 1889
Genera

Scelidotheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths within the order Pilosa, suborder Folivora and superfamily Mylodontoidea, related to the other extinct mylodontoid family, Mylodontidae, as well as to the living two-toed sloth family Choloepodidae. The only other extant family of the suborder Folivora is the distantly related Bradypodidae. Erected as the family Scelidotheriidae by Ameghino in 1889, the taxon was demoted to a subfamily of Mylodontidae by Gaudin in 1995.[1][2] However, recent collagen sequence data indicates the group is less closely related to Mylodon and Lestodon than Choloepus is, and thus it has been elevated back to full family status by Presslee et al. (2019).[3]

Taxonomy

Together with Mylodontidae, and the two-toed sloths, the scelidotheriids form the superfamily Mylodontoidea. Chubutherium is an ancestral and very plesiomorphic member of this family and does not belong to the main group of closely related genera.

Phylogeny

The following sloth family phylogenetic tree is based on collagen and mitochondrial DNA sequence data (see Fig. 4 of Presslee et al., 2019).[3]

  Folivora  

Megalocnidae (Caribbean sloths)

  Scelidotheriidae  

Scelidodon sp.

Scelidotherium sp.

  Mylodontidae  

Lestodon armatus

Paramylodon harlani

Glossotherium robustus

Mylodon darwinii

Choloepodidae
  (two-toed sloths)  

C. didactylus

C. hoffmanni

Megalonychidae

Bradypodidae (three-toed sloths)

Nothrotheriidae

Megatheriidae


Below is a more detailed cladogram of the Scelidotheriidae, based on the work of Nieto et al. 2020.[4]

Scelidotheriinae 

Sibyllotherium guenguelianum

Neonematherium flabellatum

Scelidotherium

Proscelidodon gracillimus

Proscelidodon patrius

Proscelidodon rothi

Valgipes bucklandi

Catonyx cuvieri

Catonyx tarijensis

Catonyx chiliense

References

  1. PaleoBiology Database: Scelidotheriinae, basic info
  2. Gaudin, T. J. (1995-09-14). "The Ear Region of Edentates and the Phylogeny of the Tardigrada (Mammalia, Xenarthra)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15 (3): 672–705. doi:10.1080/02724634.1995.10011255. Bibcode1995JVPal..15..672G. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Presslee, S.; Slater, G. J.; Pujos, F.; Forasiepi, A. M.; Fischer, R.; Molloy, K.; Mackie, M.; Olsen, J. V. et al. (2019). "Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships". Nature Ecology & Evolution 3 (7): 1121–1130. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0909-z. PMID 31171860. http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147061/1/5426_3_merged_1554730549.pdf. 
  4. Nieto, Gastón L.; Haro, J. Augusto; McDonald, H. Gregory; Miño-Boilini, Ángel R.; Tauber, Adan A.; Krapovickas, Jerónimo M.; Fabianelli, Maximiliano N.; Rosas, Federico M. (2021-06-01). "The Skeleton of the Manus of Scelidotherium (Xenarthra, Mylodontidae) Specimens from the Pleistocene of the Province of Córdoba, Argentina, and its Systematic Implications" (in en). Journal of Mammalian Evolution 28 (2): 221–243. doi:10.1007/s10914-020-09520-x. ISSN 1573-7055. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-020-09520-x. 

Further reading

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q7430688 entry