Acratocnus
Acratocnus | |
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Acratocnus ye skull | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Pilosa |
Family: | †Megalocnidae |
Genus: | †Acratocnus Anthony 1916 |
Type species | |
†Acratocnus odontrigonus Anthony, 1916
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Species | |
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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
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
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(help) - ^ 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.
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(help) - ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- Prehistoric sloths
- Prehistoric placental genera
- Pleistocene xenarthrans
- Pleistocene first appearances
- Pleistocene extinctions
- Rancholabrean
- Pleistocene Caribbean
- Mammals of the Caribbean
- Extinct animals of Cuba
- Extinct animals of the Dominican Republic
- Extinct animals of Haiti
- Mammals of the Dominican Republic
- Mammals of Haiti
- Mammals of Cuba
- Fossils of Puerto Rico
- Fossils of Cuba
- Fossils of the Caribbean
- Fossils of the Dominican Republic
- Mammals of Puerto Rico
- Fossil taxa described in 1916