''Scelidodon'' is an extinct

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 South American

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. ...

s. Its remains have been found in the Yupoí and Uspara Formations of

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 Ulloma, Umala, Ñuapua and Tarija Formations of

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 ...

, in

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 ...

, in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

.''Scelidodon''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks was a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cr ...

.org The youngest fossils have been dated to as recently as 9000 B.P. Scelidodon tarjiarensis

Description

''Scelidodon'' was one of the last of the ground sloths and was one of the largest scelidotheriids, with ''S. chiliense'' reaching up to 4.7 meters.Miño-Boilini, Á. R., & Carlini, A. A. (2009)
The Scelidotheriinae Ameghino, 1904 (Phyllophaga, Xenarthra) from the Ensenadan–Lujanian Stage/Ages (Early Pleistocene to Early-Middle Pleistocene–Early Holocene) of Argentina.
''Quaternary International'', ''210''(1-2), 93–101. Its body weight has been estimated at over 1500 kg. ''Scelidodon'' was widely distributed in temperate grassland environments and due to its contemporary megatheriines being high browsers, this suggests that ''Scelidodon'' was a grazerMiño-Boilini, A. R., Carlini, A. A., Chiesa, J. O., Lucero, N. P., & Zurita, A. E. (2009)
First record of Scelidodon chiliense (Lydekker)(Phyllophaga, Scelidotheriinae) from the Lujanian stage (late Pleistocene-early Holocene) of Argentina.
''Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie-Abhandlungen'', ''253'', 373–381. like its close relative, ''Scelidotherium''.

Discovery

The first remains of ''Scelidodon'' were collected in the 1850s in Tarija Valley,

and consisted of a skull and mandible (MNHN TAR 1260). It wasn't until 1880 that

Paul Gervais Paul Gervais (full name: François Louis Paul Gervais) (26 September 1816 – 10 February 1879) was a French palaeontologist and entomologist. Biography Gervais was born in Paris, where he obtained the diplomas of doctor of science and of medic ...

and

Florentino Ameghino Florentino Ameghino (born Giovanni Battista Fiorino Giuseppe Ameghino; September 19, 1853 – August 6, 1911) was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist, whose fossil discoveries on the Argentine Pampas, especial ...

described the remains as ''Scelidotherium tarijarensis''. In the same paper, ''Scelidotherium capellini'' was described based on a left hemimandible (

MNHN The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the ...

PAM 231) with a referred skull ( MACN 994), the fossils were found at ‘‘Toscas del Rio de la Plata’’ in

. The genus ''Scelidodon'' was erected in 1881 with the type species, ''Scelidodon cope''i'','' name by Ameghino. The type specimen (MACN A-1158) of ''S. copei'' comes from

Ensenadan The Ensenadan age is a period of geologic time (1.2–0.8 Ma) within the Early Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary used more specifically with South American Land Mammal Ages. It follows the Uquian and precedes the Lujanian The Lujanian age is a ...

sediments in

Mercedes, Buenos Aires Mercedes () is a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is located 100 km (62 miles) west from Buenos Aires and 30 km (18 miles) southwest of Luján. It is the administrative headquarters for the district ('' partido'') of Merced ...

province and consists of a left maxilla. ''S. tarijarensis'' and ''S. capellini'' were transferred to ''Scelidodon'' in 1889 by Ameghino. ''S. chiliense'' was named based on a skull (BMNH M 2819) from the late Pleistocene of

Richard Lydekker Richard Lydekker (; 25 July 1849 – 16 April 1915) was a British naturalist, geologist and writer of numerous books on natural history. He was known for his contributions to zoology, paleontology, and biogeography. He worked extensively in cata ...

in 1886. Since the 19th century, much material of ''Scelidodon'' has been found from 5 countries and is one of the most well preserved scelidotheres.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7430691 Prehistoric sloths Pleistocene xenarthrans Holocene extinctions Pleistocene mammals of South America Ensenadan Lujanian Pleistocene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Paraná Basin Pleistocene Bolivia Fossils of Bolivia Pleistocene Brazil Fossils of Brazil Pleistocene Chile Fossils of Chile Pleistocene Peru Fossils of Peru Fossil taxa described in 1881 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino