Megatherium americanum

Megatherium americanum

en:User:Ballista · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikidata/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
MegatheriumPBDB
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 4.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 8 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 37 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 37 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 35 of 37 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 37 occurrences8.2–7.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.9–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.8–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–6.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.0–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.3–2.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.0–1.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.7–1.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.4–1.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.1–850 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence850 ka–567 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences567 ka–283 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences283 ka–0 Mya — about 20 occurrences5 Mya11.7 ka8.5 Mya0 Mya

37 occurrences of Megatherium americanum 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

37 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

13 formations

Lujan — 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°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WNuapua — 20.87°S, 63.07°WSopas — 30.43°S, 56.45°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°WUlloma — 17.42°S, 68.50°WSan Sebastian — 13.52°S, 71.98°WLuján — 37.00°S, 60.38°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WLa Invernada — 32.55°S, 64.44°WChocancharava — 33.28°S, 64.36°WCerro Azul — 38.76°S, 62.16°WSanta Vitória — 33.74°S, 53.37°WTafi del Valle — 26.85°S, 65.71°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Megatherium americanum has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Megatherium americanum and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Megatherium americanum and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

217 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Megatherium americanum, 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

30 references

Each of the 37 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. 18 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 americanum

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-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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

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

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMegatherium through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

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