Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Pilosa
Family: Mylodontidae
Genus: Lestodon
Species: L. armatus
Temporal Range: Pleistocene
It is an extinct genus of megafaunal ground sloth from South America during the Pleistocene period. Its fossil
remains have been found in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia. 4.6 (15ft) from snout to tail tip, it is estimated to have weighted about 4 tons. It was a herbivore and primarily fed on the grasses on the South American Plains and is thought to perhaps have used its semi-bipedal stance to obtain foliage from trees. The genus name Lestodon derives from the Greek for robber tooth.
Lestodon had a large, blunt and square mandible well adapted for foliage consumption. Its muzzle and dentition show significant adaption to this diet. The shape of the muzzle aided the ground sloth in the grazing necessary to sustain the metabolic activity of its large body, square,flat muzzles are associated with bulk feeders while pointed snouts are adaptive features of precision eaters. To sustain its coloric needs with plant matter, the sloth would have needed to be able to consume a high quantity of food with little precision. The species would dig its food, and would have accidentally ingested a large amount of grinity dirt and soil particulate. This gives them a large crown height, called hypsodonty that is unsuitable for strong bite forces. While the mandibular muscles would have been well developed to support the allometrically positive jaw of Lestodon, they would have also been extremely weak.
Researchers working at the Arroyo del Vizcaino site near Sauce, Uruguay, found evidence suggesting that Lestodon was hunted by humans about 30,000 years ago. This was discovered through the analysis of Lestodon bones. Deep slash markings on some of them were discovered the use of human stone tools.
Lestodon had a large, blunt and square mandible well adapted for foliage consumption. Its muzzle and dentition show significant adaption to this diet. The shape of the muzzle aided the ground sloth in the grazing necessary to sustain the metabolic activity of its large body, square,flat muzzles are associated with bulk feeders while pointed snouts are adaptive features of precision eaters. To sustain its coloric needs with plant matter, the sloth would have needed to be able to consume a high quantity of food with little precision. The species would dig its food, and would have accidentally ingested a large amount of grinity dirt and soil particulate. This gives them a large crown height, called hypsodonty that is unsuitable for strong bite forces. While the mandibular muscles would have been well developed to support the allometrically positive jaw of Lestodon, they would have also been extremely weak.
Researchers working at the Arroyo del Vizcaino site near Sauce, Uruguay, found evidence suggesting that Lestodon was hunted by humans about 30,000 years ago. This was discovered through the analysis of Lestodon bones. Deep slash markings on some of them were discovered the use of human stone tools.
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