Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Pilosa
Family: Nothrotheriidae
Temporal Range: 11.6 - 0.011 Ma
It is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 11.6 mya - 11,000 years ago. During the late Miocene and Pliocene, the nothrotheriid Thalassocnus of the west coast of South America became adapted to a shallow water marine lifestyle.
The earliest nothrotheriid in North America was Nothrotheriops, which appeared at the beginning of the Pleistocene, about 2.6 Ma ago. Nothrotherium reached Mexico by the late Pleistocene.
The last ground sloths in North America belonging to Nothrotheriops died so recently that their dried subfossil dung has remained undisturbed in some caves, as if it were just recently deposited.
The largest samples of Nothrotheriops dung can be found in the collections of Smithsonian Museum.
Genus:
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