Megathericulus

Megathericulus is an extinct genus of ground sloths in the Megatheriidae family. It lived during the Middle Miocene, 11-16 Ma in what is now South America. Fossils have been found principally in Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru. It is a smaller representative of the megatheres. Despite being one of the earliest-known members of the family, its dentition structure is associated with homodont teeth belonging to the more modern line of evolution. The genus was scientifically named in 1904. Only one species is currently recognized, Megathericulus patagonicus.

No picture of Megathericulus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata, iDigBio and Smithsonian Open Access were searched and had none. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Megathericulus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MegatheriinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Megatheriidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Megatheriidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.5 Mya to 11 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 16.3 Mya to 7.246 Mya.

Miocene — about 8 of 8 occurrencesMiocene16–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.8–9.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.4–9.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.1–8.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.8–8.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.4–8.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.1–7.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.4–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15.5 Mya11 Mya16.8 Mya6.7 Mya

8 occurrences of Megathericulus on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

8 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Río Mayo — 46.10°S, 71.63°WRío Mayo — 45.98°S, 71.62°WCollón Curá — 42.85°S, 69.46°WCollón Curá — 42.58°S, 70.33°WIpururo — 10.81°S, 73.76°WRío Frías — 44.58°S, 71.23°W

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The named rock units Megathericulus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Megathericulus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Megathericulus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

34 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Megathericulus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

5 references

Each of the 8 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Megathericulus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata, iDigBio and Smithsonian Open Access were searched and had none.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Megathericulus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMegatheriinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ameghino 1904