''Pseudoglyptodon'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

sloth Sloths are a Neotropical realm, Neotropical group of xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant Arboreal locomotion, arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of move ...

s from South America. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is ''Pseudoglyptodon sallaensis''.''Pseudoglyptodon''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks was a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cr ...

.org

Description

Fossils of the genus have been found in the

Mustersan The Mustersan age is a period of geologic time (48.0–42.0 Mya (unit), Ma) within the Eocene epoch of the Paleogene, used more specifically within the South American land mammal age (SALMA) classification. It follows the Casamayoran and precedes th ...

Sarmiento Formation The Sarmiento Formation (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Formación Sarmiento''), in older literature described as the Casamayor Formation, is a geological formation in Chubut Province, Argentina, in central Patagonia, which spans around 30 million y ...

of Argentina, in the

Tinguirirican The Tinguirirican () age is a period of geologic time (36.0–29.0 Mya (unit), Ma) within the Eocene, Late Eocene and Oligocene, Early Oligocene epochs of the Paleogene, used more specifically within the South American land mammal age, SALMA classi ...

(

Late Eocene The Priabonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or the upper stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Eocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans ...

Early Oligocene The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two age (geology), ages or the lower of two stage (stratigraphy), stages of the Oligocene epoch (geology), Epoch/series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded b ...

)

Abanico Formation Abanico Formation () is a thick sedimentary formation exposed in the Andes of Central Chile. The formation has been deposited in a timespan from the Eocene to the Miocene. Abanico Formation's contact with the overlying Miocene Farellones Forma ...

in the Tinguiririca valley in the Cordillera Principal of the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

and the

Deseadan The Deseadan () age is a period of geologic time (29.0–21.0 Ma) within the Oligocene epoch of the Paleogene to the Early Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification of South America. It follows the Tingu ...

Salla Formation Salla, known as Kuolajärvi until 1936, is a municipality of Finland, located in Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The nearby settlement of Sallatunturi is ...

of Bolivia. ''P.chilensis'' is known from a damaged skull with mandible and some damaged skull fragments. The species can differentiated from others based on a number of features: it is larger, has thinner teeth and less angled cusps on the molars. The discovery of this species lead researchers to the conclusion that the genus ''Pseudoglyptodon'' is the closest relative of the sloths depending on how the word "sloth" is defined.

References

Prehistoric sloths Eocene xenarthrans Oligocene xenarthrans Eocene mammals of South America Oligocene mammals of South America Deseadan Tinguirirican Divisaderan Mustersan Paleogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Paleogene Bolivia Fossils of Bolivia Paleogene Chile Fossils of Chile Fossil taxa described in 1987 Golfo San Jorge Basin Sarmiento Formation {{paleo-mammal-stub