Mylodon
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Mylodon Temporal range: to Holocene |
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| Lower jaw at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Superorder: | Xenarthra |
| Order: | Pilosa |
| Family: | †Mylodontidae |
| Subfamily: | †Mylodontinae |
| Genus: |
†Mylodon Owen, 1840 |
| Species: | †M. darwini |
Mylodon is an extinct genus of ground sloth that lived in the Patagonia (Argentina and Chile) area of South America until roughly 10,000 years ago.
Mylodon's close relatives include the ground sloths of the genera Glossotherium and Paramylodon. The latter genus has often been confused with Glossotherium but Paramylodon is a distinct genus that was restricted to the of North America.Glossotherium also shares a long history of taxonomic confusion with Mylodon, and currently the only recognized species is Mylodon darwinii. At one time, the elephant-sized Megatherium was thought to be closely related, but is recognized as belonging to a separate family (Megatheriidae).
Mylodon weighed about 1,000 kilograms (2,205 lb) and was about 3 m (9.8 ft) long from snout to tail tip. It had very thick hide and had osteoderms within its skin for added armor. Because of this armor and its long and sharp claws, it is unlikely that the Mylodon had any natural enemies other than humans, who would have still found the skin difficult to pierce with stone projectile points.
Mylodon has been traditionally considered a grazer in open areas, which is theorized based on its paleoenvironment as well as from the vegetation found in fossilized dung. However, recent studies based on biomechanics and functional morphology indicate that Mylodon may have been a mixed or selective-feeder instead, and the paleoenvironment of the formation where the animal was found indicates a wide variety of vegetation to be selected from.
A variety of specimens found throughout Argentina and Chile indicate that Mylodon had a wide range of climatic and environmental tolerance. It was probably capable of inhabiting arid to semiarid and cold climates, humid and warm climates, and colder and montane climates.
At several sites preserved hide and dung have been discovered, and are in such a state of conservation that the people who first discovered them believed they belonged to a living animal instead of an extinct species. Mylodon was named by Richard Owen on the basis of a nearly complete lower jaw with teeth, which was found by Charles Darwin in a consolidated gravel cliff at Bahía Blanca, during the survey expedition of HMS Beagle.
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Wikipedia