Glossotherium

Glossotherium is an extinct genus of large mylodontid ground sloths of the subfamily Mylodontinae. It represents one of the best-known members of the family, along with Mylodon and Paramylodon. Reconstructed animals were between 3 and 4 metres long and possibly weighed up to 1,002.6–1,500 kg. The majority of finds of Glossotherium date from the Middle and Late Pleistocene, around 300,000 to 12,000 years ago, with a few dating older, as far back Pliocene, about 3.3-3 million years ago. The range included large parts of South America, east of the Andes roughly from latitude 20 to 40 degrees south, leaving out the Amazon Basin in the north. In western South America, finds are also documented north of the equator. The animals largely inhabited the open landscapes of the Pampas and northern savanna regions.

Glossotherium

Rept0n1x · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MylodontinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Mylodontidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Mylodontidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 2 of 95 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 13 of 95 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 81 of 95 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 95 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.4–4.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 44 occurrences4.7 Mya129 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

95 occurrences of Glossotherium on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

95 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

16 formations

Lujan — 36.78°S, 59.87°WLujan — 38.57°S, 58.70°WLujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WLujan — 34.64°S, 59.30°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.20°N, 100.70°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.03°N, 100.75°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.10°N, 100.80°WTamiami — 26.90°N, 82.00°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WTamiami — 27.30°N, 80.80°WTamiami — 26.50°N, 81.80°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.07°S, 60.55°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.28°S, 60.37°WChapadmalal — 38.10°S, 57.55°WChapadmalal — 38.27°S, 57.84°WChapadmalal — 38.16°S, 57.62°WSopas — 30.43°S, 56.45°WSopas — 31.25°S, 57.00°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WTarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WDolores — 34.27°S, 55.99°WDolores — 34.38°S, 57.88°WTouro Passo — 30.40°S, 56.49°WTouro Passo — 29.67°S, 56.83°WCamp Rice — 32.00°N, 106.70°WBlanco — 33.70°N, 101.10°WCharana — 17.30°S, 69.25°WAgua Blanca — 38.48°S, 61.80°WVorohué — 38.12°S, 57.70°WSanta Vitória — 33.74°S, 53.37°WTafna — 21.98°S, 65.90°W

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The named rock units Glossotherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 61 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Glossotherium and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Glossotherium and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

640 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 70 sites for Glossotherium, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

51 references

Each of the 95 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 39 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Glossotherium

Credit
Rept0n1x
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Glossotherium robustum · FCS-P.160

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMylodontinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1840