Eremotherium

Eremotherium Temporal range: Early Pleistocene - Early Holocene, 4.9–0.011 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
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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
E. laurillardi Lund 1842 E. eomigrans De Iullis & Cartelle 1999

Eremotherium is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Megatheriidae, endemic to North America and South America during the Pleistocene 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.

Taxonomy

File:Eremotherium eomigrans skull Florida.JPG

E. eomigrans skull

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).

Fossil distribution

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.

Species

E. eomigrans

E. eomigrans was named by De Iulis and Cartelle (1999). It was found only within the confines of Florida. Fossil distribution was in Florida only. It lived from 4.9 mya—300,000 years ago (4.6 million years).

• De Soto Shell Pit, DeSoto County, Florida. est. age ~1.6 Mya.
• Payne Creek Mine, Polk County, Florida. est. age 1.6—1.5 Mya.
• Crystal River Power Plant, Citrus County, Florida. est. age 1.6—1.5 Mya.
• Inglis IA Site, Citrus County, Florida. est. age ~1.5 Mya.
• Haile 7C Site, Alachua County, Florida. est. age ~1.6—1.5 Mya.
• Haile 16A Site, Alachua County, Florida. ~1.6—1.5 Mya.
• Cross Florida Barge Canal, Levy County, Florida. est. age ~1.6 Mya—400,000 years ago.
• McLeod Limerock Mine, Levy County, Florida. est. age ~400,000 years ago.

E. laurillardi

E. laurillardi mounts in the Smithsonian

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).

Fossil distribution

• Fossilossa Site, Chatham County, Georgia. est. age ~2.0 Mya—400,000 years ago.
• Isle of Hope, Chatham County, Georgia. est. age ~2.0 Mya.
• Edisto Island, South Carolina est. age 400,000 years ago.
• El Bosque, Nicaragua. est. age ~2.3—400,000 years ago.
• Masachapa, Nicaragua. est. age ~23.03 Mya.
• La Coca, Panama. est. age ~500,000—400,000 years ago.
• Zumbador Cave aka Cueva del Zumbador, Falcon, Venezuela. est. age ~1.8 Mya—11,000 years ago.
• Cucuruchu, Venezuela. est. age ~125,000—11,000 years ago.
• Rio Canas Site, Manabi, Ecuador. est. age ~781,000—11,000 years ago.
• Lagoa do Ipu Site, Ceara; Lage Grande-Level 1 & 2 Pernambuco, (Brazil. est. age ~1.8 Mya—11,000 years ago.
• Toca da Janela da Barra do Antoniao and Lagoa Sao Vitor Piaui, Brazil. est. age ~126,000—11,000 years ago.
• Toca da Esperanca, Bahia, Brazil. est. age ~126,000—11,000 years ago. est. age ~291,000 +/-84,000—204,000 years ago +/- 34,000.

References

• Dinosaur Encyclopedia by Jayne Parsons
• After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals (Life of the Past) by Donald R. Prothero