Eremotherium
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Eremotherium Temporal range: Early - Early Holocene, 4.9–0.011 Ma |
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| E. laurillardi at the HMNS | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Superorder: | Xenarthra |
| Order: | Pilosa |
| Family: | †Megatheriidae |
| Subfamily: | †Megatherinae |
| Tribe: | †Megatheriini |
| Subtribe: | †Megatheriina |
| Genus: |
†Eremotherium Spillmann, 1948 |
| Species | |
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Eremotherium is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Megatheriidae, endemic to North America and South America during the epoch. It lived from 4.9 mya—11,000 years ago existing (as a genus) for approximately 4.889 million years.
E. rusconi reached a length up to 6 m (20 ft) and a weight of more than 3 tonnes.
Eremotherium was named by Spillmann (1948) and was assigned to Megatheriinae by Gaudin (1995); and to Megatheriidae by Spillmann (1948), Carroll (1988) and Cisneros (2005).
Fossils have been uncovered from Chatham County, Georgia; Berkeley County, South Carolina; Espirito Santo; and Pedra Preta, Brazil; Tarapoto, Peru (giant form); Rio Canas, Ecuador.
E. eomigrans was named by De Iulis and Cartelle (1999). E. eomigrans was assumed to have been restricted to Florida, as most fossil specimens have been recovered from that area. However, in 1993, another specimen was recovered in North Carolina. It lived from 4.9 mya—300,000 years ago (4.6 million years).
E. laurillardi was named by Lund (1842). It was considered a nomen dubium by Hoffstetter (1952), Gazin (1957) and Paula Couto (1979); it was recombined as Eremotherium laurillardi by Hoffstetter (1954), Cartelle and Bohorquez (1982), Cartelle and De Iuliis (1995) and Hulbert and Pratt (1998). Fossil distribution was from the southern U.S. to Brazil. It lived from 780,000—11,000 years ago (0.769 million years).
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