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Acratocnus

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Acratocnus
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean)
~0.126–0.011 Ma
↓
Acratocnus ye skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Pilosa
Family: †Megalocnidae
Genus: †Acratocnus
Anthony 1916
Type species
†Acratocnus odontrigonus
Anthony, 1916
Species
  • †A. antillensis Matthew 1931
  • †A. odontrigonus Anthony 1916
  • †A. ye MacPhee et al. 2000
Synonyms

Habanocnus Mayo, 1978

Acratocnus is an extinct genus of sloths that were found on Cuba, Hispaniola (today the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Puerto Rico.

Classification

Like all of the Antillean sloths, Acratocnus was formerly thought on the basis of morphological evidence to be a member of the family Megalonychidae, which was also thought to include Choloepus, the two-toed tree sloths. Recent molecular evidence has clarified that Caribbean sloths represent a separate basal branch of the sloth radiation,[1][2] now placed in the family Megalocnidae.[1]

Location

Fossils of Acratocnus were found on the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Hispaniola, where they inhabited the montane forests of the highlands. The Puerto Rican ground sloth, Acratocnus odontrigonus is known from several poorly documented cave excavations in northwestern Puerto Rico.

Description

Acratocnus ye has been estimated to weigh approximately 15 kilograms (33 lb),[3] somewhat larger than living tree sloths. The various species are though to have been semi-arboreal, having spent some of their time in trees.[4]

Extinction

As with many sloth fossils, these species of sloth have not been radiometrically dated.[5] It is suggested[by whom?] that the Puerto Rican and Hispaniolan Acratocnus species survived into the late Pleistocene but disappeared by the mid-Holocene.[citation needed] The related Cuban ground sloth, Megalocnus rodens, survived until at least c. 6600 BP,[6] and the latest survival reported for any of the Antillean sloths is c. 5000 BP, for the Hispaniolan Neocnus comes,[6] based on AMS radiocarbon dating. The cause(s) of their extinctions may have been climatic changes, or more likely, human hunting by the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Presslee, S.; Slater, G. J.; Pujos, F.; Forasiepi, A. M.; Fischer, R.; Molloy, K.; Mackie, M.; Olsen, J. V.; Kramarz, A.; Taglioretti, M.; Scaglia, F.; Lezcano, M.; Lanata, J. L.; Southon, J.; Feranec, R.; Bloch, J.; Hajduk, A.; Martin, F. M.; Gismondi, R. S.; Reguero, M.; de Muizon, C.; Greenwood, A.; Chait, B. T.; Penkman, K.; Collins, M.; MacPhee, R.D.E. (2019). "Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships" (PDF). Nature Ecology & Evolution. 3 (7): 1121–1130. Bibcode:2019NatEE...3.1121P. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0909-z. PMID 31171860. S2CID 174813630.
  2. ^ Delsuc, F.; Kuch, M.; Gibb, G. C.; Karpinski, E.; Hackenberger, D.; Szpak, P.; Martínez, J. G.; Mead, J. I.; McDonald, H. G.; MacPhee, R.D.E.; Billet, G.; Hautier, L.; Poinar, H. N. (2019). "Ancient Mitogenomes Reveal the Evolutionary History and Biogeography of Sloths". Current Biology. 29 (12): 2031–2042.e6. Bibcode:2019CBio...29E2031D. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.05.043. hdl:11336/136908. PMID 31178321.
  3. ^ Dantas, Mário A. T.; Campbell, Sean Cody; McDonald, H. Gregory (2023-12). "Paleoecological inferences about the Late Quaternary giant sloths". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 30 (4): 891–905. doi:10.1007/s10914-023-09681-5. ISSN 1064-7554. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Gaudin, Timothy J.; Scaife, Thomas (2023-03). "Cranial osteology of a juvenile specimen of Acratocnus ye (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Folivora) and its ontogenetic and phylogenetic implications". The Anatomical Record. 306 (3): 607–637. doi:10.1002/ar.25062. ISSN 1932-8486. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Donald A. McFarlane (1999). "Late Quaternary Fossil Mammals and Last Occurrence Dates from Caves at Barahona, Puerto Rico" (PDF). Caribbean Journal of Science. 35 (3–4): 238–248. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  6. ^ a b c Steadman, D. W.; Martin, P. S.; MacPhee, R. D. E.; Jull, A. J. T.; McDonald, H. G.; Woods, C. A.; Iturralde-Vinent, M.; Hodgins, G. W. L. (2005-08-16). "Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 102 (33). National Academy of Sciences: 11763–11768. Bibcode:2005PNAS..10211763S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0502777102. PMC 1187974. PMID 16085711.
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