''Nothrotherium'' is an

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 ...

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 ...

of medium-sized

ground sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. They varied widely in size with the largest, belonging to genera '' Lestodon'', ''Eremotherium'' and ''Megatherium'', being around the size of elephants. ...

from

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(

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and the Ware Formation,

La Guajira La Guajira () is a departments of Colombia, department of Colombia. It occupies most of the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, on the Caribbean Sea and bordering Venezuela, at the northernmost tip of South America. The ca ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

).Amson et al., 2016, p.12 It differs from '' Nothrotheriops'' in smaller size and differences in skull and hind leg bones.

Taxonomy

''Nothrotherium'' is derived from the Greek ''nothros'' �ωθρός meaning "lazy" or "slothful," and ''therion'' �ηρίον "beast", and the species ''N. maquinense'' is named after the Maquiné Grotto in

, where it was found. Synonyms such as ''Coelodon'' occasionally cause confusion where they occur in early texts such as that of

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

's major work, ''The Geographical Distribution of Animals'' (1876). This genus formerly included the species '' Nothrotheriops shastensis'', which was later moved to '' Nothrotheriops''.

Description

Analysis of ''δ''¹³C values of ''N. maquinense'' remains suggests that they were specialists feeding predominantly on C₃ vegetation. Analysis of a

coprolite A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name ...

associated with a ''N. maquinense'' skeleton in Brazil's Gruta dos Brejoes show it to have been a browser which fed on

xerophytic A xerophyte () is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water. Examples of xerophytes include cactus, cacti, pineapple and some gymnosperm plants. The morphology (biology), morphology and physiology ...

leaves and fruits, and it is sometimes thought to have been an inhabitant of open, peripheral forests, possibly having a semi-arboreal lifestyle, like the contemporaneous Cuban ground sloths and '' Diabolotherium''. Plant material in the Gruta dos Brejoes coprolite yielded a date of 12,200 ± 120 yr BP.

Taxonomy

Description

References

Bibliography

Further reading