''Pseudoglyptodon'' is a genus of

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

sloths from South America. The type species is ''Pseudoglyptodon sallaensis''.''Pseudoglyptodon''
at

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Description

Fossils of the genus have been found in the Mustersan

Sarmiento Formation The Sarmiento Formation (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 years from the mid- ...

of Argentina, in the

Tinguirirican The Tinguirirican ( es, Tinguiririquense) age is a period of geologic time (36.0–29.0 Ma) within the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene epochs of the Paleogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows th ...

( Late Eocene to Early Oligocene)

Abanico Formation Abanico Formation ( es, Formación Abanico) 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 Mi ...

in the Tinguiririca valley in the Cordillera Principal of the Chilean Andes and the

Deseadan The Deseadan ( es, Deseadense) 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 fo ...

Salla Formation Salla (''Kuolajärvi'' until 1936) ( smn, Kyelijävri) 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 Sa ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. ''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.McKenna, M.C., Wyss, A.R. & Flynn, J.J. 2006. Paleogene pseudoglyptodont xenarthrans from central Chile and Argentine Patagonia. ''American Museum Novitates'' 3536:1-18.

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