Megatherium

Megatherium is an extinct genus of large ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Pliocene through the end of the Late Pleistocene. It is best known for the elephant-sized, 3.5–4 tonnes (7,700–8,800 lb) type species Megatherium americanum, which is primarily known from the Pampas, but which ranged southwards to northernmost Patagonia and northwards to southern Bolivia during the late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene. Various other species have been described, including those belonging to the Andean subgenus Pseudomegatherium, which range in size from comparable to M. americanum down to approximately 1 tonne (2,200 lb).

Megatherium

en:User:Ballista · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

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
Length
6 mWikidata
Mass
4 tonneWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 2 of 97 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 5 of 97 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 97 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 80 of 97 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 11 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 14 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 57 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

97 occurrences of Megatherium on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

97 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

32 formations

Umala — 18.83°S, 66.15°WUmala — 17.08°S, 68.00°WUmala — 17.15°S, 68.83°WUmala — 18.35°S, 67.93°WTarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WLujan — 36.78°S, 59.87°WLujan — 38.57°S, 58.70°WLujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.12°S, 60.43°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.07°S, 60.55°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.28°S, 60.37°WUlloma — 17.42°S, 68.50°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WSopas — 30.43°S, 56.45°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°WVorohué — 38.03°S, 57.72°WVorohué — 38.12°S, 57.70°WSan Julian — 47.08°S, 66.10°WArroyo Seco — 38.27°S, 57.85°WSilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°WSuelo — 28.60°S, 59.03°WSan Sebastian — 13.52°S, 71.98°WAgua Blanca — 38.48°S, 61.80°WLuján — 37.00°S, 60.38°WFortin Tres Pozos — 26.60°S, 58.67°WUquía — 23.33°S, 65.33°WChiu Chiu — 22.44°S, 68.90°WPisco — 12.21°S, 76.38°WBacons Castle — 38.16°N, 76.83°WLagunilla del Plata — 31.05°S, 62.56°WLa Invernada — 32.55°S, 64.44°WChocancharava — 33.28°S, 64.36°WCerro Azul — 38.76°S, 62.16°W

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The named rock units Megatherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 51 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Megatherium and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Megatherium and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

644 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 67 sites for Megatherium, 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

67 references

Each of the 97 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. 55 further references are not listed. 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 content3

Picture of Megatherium

Credit
en:User:Ballista
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Megatherium americanum · FCS-P.123

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cuvier 1796