''Oreomylodon'' is an extinct genus of

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. ...

in the family

Mylodontidae Mylodontidae is a family of extinct South American and North American ground sloths within the suborder Folivora of order Pilosa, living from around 23 million years ago (Mya) to 11,000 years ago. This family is most closely related to another fa ...

, endemic to

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. The only species, ''O. wegneri'', was long considered to be either a species or

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

of ''

Glossotherium ''Glossotherium'' is an extinct genus of large mylodontid ground sloths of the subfamily Mylodontinae. It represents one of the best-known members of the family, along with ''Mylodon'' and '' Paramylodon''. Reconstructed animals were between ...

'' (as ''G. wegneri'') or a junior synonym of ''Glossotherium robustum'', but studies of its cranial anatomy published in 2019 have supported ''Oreomylodon'' as a valid genus, and suggested it is more closely related to ''

Paramylodon ''Paramylodon'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Mylodontidae endemic to North America during the Pliocene through Pleistocene epochs, living from around ~4.9 Mya–12,000 years ago. Within the genus only two species are recog ...

''. However, a subsequent analysis published in 2020 again sunk ''Oreomylodon wegneri'' into ''Glossotherium,'' as a distinct species. It shows adaptations to living in a high-altitude habitat, and its fossils have frequently been unearthed in the

Interandean Valles The term Interandean valles refers to those valleys located in the Andes mountains. The interandean valles comprise most of the mid-elevation areas of the " sierra" of Peru, "los valles" of Bolivia and the " Cuyo region" of Argentina. In Colombia ...

of Ecuador, at elevations of between 2,450 and 3,100 meters.

References

Prehistoric sloths Prehistoric placental genera Pleistocene xenarthrans Pleistocene mammals of South America Lujanian Fossils of Ecuador Fossil taxa described in 1949 Nomina dubia {{paleo-mammal-stub