Arctotherium
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Arctotherium Temporal range: Early -Early Holocene,2.0–0.011 Ma |
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| Life restoration of Arctotherium bonariense | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Superfamily: | Arctoidea |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Subfamily: | Tremarctinae |
| Genus: |
†Arctotherium Burmeister, 1879 |
| Type species | |
| †Arctotherium bonariense Gervais, 1852 |
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| Species | |
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†A. angustidens (Gervais & Ameghino, 1880) |
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†A. angustidens (Gervais & Ameghino, 1880)
†A. vetustum (Ameghino, 1885)
†A. wingei (Ameghino, 1902)
†A. bonariense (Gervais, 1852)
†A. tarijense (Ameghino, 1902)
Arctotherium is an extinct genus of South American short-faced bears within Ursidae of the . Their ancestors migrated from North America to South America during the Great American Interchange, following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama during the late Pliocene. The oldest remains are from the Ensenadan epoch within the early-middle Pleistocene 1.2 Mya. Their closest known relative is the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus).
Arctotherium was named by Hermann Burmeister in 1879. A specimen of A. angustidens from Buenos Aires shows an individual estimated, using the humerus, to weigh between 983 and 2,042 kg (2,167 and 4,502 lb), though the authors consider the upper limit as improbable and say that 1,588 to 1,749 kg (3,501 to 3,856 lb) is more likely. It is still the largest bear ever found and contender for the largest carnivorous land mammal known. This has been attributed to increased competition from other, later-arriving or evolving carnivorans, such as jaguars, lions or Smilodon, following the early dispersal of short-faced bears to South America. The North American carnivorans that invaded South America, including short-faced bears and Smilodon, quickly dominated the predatory niches formerly occupied by South America's native metatherian sparassodont and avian phorusrhacid carnivores.
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