Eremotherium

Eremotherium (†Eremotherium (Spillmann, 1948))

 

Order: Pilosa

Family: †Megatheriidae

Temporal range: Early Pliocene - Early Holocene (4.9–0.011 Ma, South America, Central America, and parts of southern North America)

Dimensions: length - 6 m, height - 250 сm, weight - 2500 - 3500 kg

A typical representative: Eremotherium rusconi 

 

 

Eremotherium is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Megatheriidae, endemic to northern South America, Central America, and parts of southern North America during the Pleistocene epoch. It lived from 4.9 mya —11,000 years ago existing (as a genus) for approximately 4.889 million years. Several species of Eremotherium were among the largest known ground sloths, rivalling Megatherium americanum in size, with E. rusconi reaching a length up to 6 m  and a weight of more than 3 tonnes. Eremotherium arrived in North America during the Late Pliocene or earliest Pleistocene during the Great American Interchange, with remains of E. eomigrans in Florida dating to the late Blancan, around 2.2 to 1.9 Ma