''Meizonyx'' is an extinct genus of megalonychid

ground sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Cari ...

from the Pleistocene of

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by ...

and southern

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. The type and only species, ''Meizonyx salvadorensis,'' was described in 1985 from a mandible found in Barranca del Sisimico and other remains found at Rio Tomayate in El Salvador considered to be

Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch withi ...

in age. Later, in 2021, additional remains were described from Late Pleistocene aged deposits in

Sistema Huautla Sistema Huautla is a cave system in the Sierra Mazateca mountains of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. it was the deepest cave system in the Western Hemisphere, from top to bottom, with over 55 miles of mapped passageways. Location Siste ...

, Oxaca, Mexico. It is considered closely related to ''

Xibalbaonyx ''Xibalbaonyx'' is an extinct genus of megalonychid ground sloth known from the Late Pleistocene of Mexico. Three species are known: ''X. oviceps'' and ''X. exiniferis'' from the Yucatan peninsula and ''X. microcaninus'' from Jalisco. The genus ...

.''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q58418070 Prehistoric sloths Pleistocene xenarthrans Prehistoric placental genera Holocene extinctions Rancholabrean Pleistocene Mexico Fossils of Mexico Fossil taxa described in 1985