Prepoplanops is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Megatheriidae. It lived in the Miocene around 18 to 16 million years ago of what is now Argentina. The only known species is Prepoplanops boleadorensis.[1]
Description
Prepoplanops was a medium-sized ground sloth, about 1.5 to 2 meters long.[1]
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.[2]
Below is a phylogenetic tree of the Megatheriidae, based on the work of Varela and colleagues (2019).[3]
References
- ^ a b Carlini, Alfredo A.; Brandoni, Diego; Dal Molin, Carlos N. (2013). "A new genus and species of Planopinae (Xenarthra: Tardigrada) from the Miocene of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina". Zootaxa. 3694 (6): 565–578. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3694.6.4. hdl:11336/18925. ISSN 1175-5326. PMID 26312311.
- ^ Vizcaino, Sergio F.; Bargo, M. Susana; Pérez, M. Encarnación; Aramendía, Inés; Cuitiño, José I.; Monsalvo, Eduardo S.; Vlachos, Evangelos; Noriega, Jorge I.; Kay, Richard F. (2022-09-30). "Fossil vertebrates of the early-middle Miocene Cerro Boleadoras Formation, northwestern Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia, Argentina". Andean Geology. 49 (3): 382–422. doi:10.5027/andgeoV49n3-3425. ISSN 0718-7106.
- ^ Varela, Luciano; Tambusso, P Sebastián; McDonald, H Gregory; Fariña, Richard A (2018-09-15). "Phylogeny, Macroevolutionary Trends and Historical Biogeography of Sloths: Insights From a Bayesian Morphological Clock Analysis". Systematic Biology. 68 (2): 204–218. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syy058. ISSN 1063-5157. PMID 30239971.
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