''Prepoplanops'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family

Megatheriidae Megatheriidae is a family of Extinction, extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 23 Annum, mya—11,000 years ago. Megatheriids appeared during the Oligocene, Late Oligocene (Deseadan in the South American land mammal age, SALMA cl ...

. It lived in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

around 18 to 16 million years ago of what is now

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The only known species is ''Prepoplanops boleadorensis''.

Description

''Prepoplanops'' was a medium-sized ground sloth, about 1.5 to 2 meters long.

Classification

''Prepoplanops'' was a representative of the Planopsinae, a subfamily of megatheriids that lived during the Miocene. In particular, it appears that ''Prepoplanops'' was an intermediate form between ''Planops'' and ''Prepotherium''. ''Prepoplanops boleadorensis'' was first described in 2013, based on fossil remains found in Argentina's Santa Cruz Province in the Cerro Boleadoras Formation. Below is a phylogenetic tree of the Megatheriidae, based on the work of Varela and colleagues (2019).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q110461569 Prehistoric sloths Miocene xenarthrans Miocene mammals of South America Fossil taxa described in 2013 Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Santacrucian Prehistoric placental genera