Scelidotherium

Scelidotherium is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Scelidotheriidae, endemic to South America during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. It lived from 3,300,000 to 12,000 years ago, between the Chapadmalalan and Lujanian faunal stages of South America.

Scelidotherium

LadyofHats · Public Domain · 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
ScelidotheriinaePBDB
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 2.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 61 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 61 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 59 of 61 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 61 occurrences5.1–5.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.0–4.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.8–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.4–4.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–2.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.2–2.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.0–1.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.8–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.3–1.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.1–917 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences917 ka–733 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences733 ka–550 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences550 ka–367 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences367 ka–183 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences183 ka–0 Mya — about 19 occurrences3 Mya129 ka5.5 Mya0 Mya

61 occurrences of Scelidotherium 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

61 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

13 formations

Lujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WLujan — 38.75°S, 60.60°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WLa Invernada — 32.55°S, 64.44°WLa Invernada — 33.39°S, 64.72°WMiramar — 38.17°S, 57.65°WMiramar — 37.98°S, 57.59°WArroyo Seco — 38.27°S, 57.85°WSan Sebastian — 13.52°S, 71.98°WAgua Blanca — 38.48°S, 61.80°WUquía — 23.33°S, 65.33°WAndalhuala — 26.68°S, 66.03°WTezanos Pinto — 30.92°S, 62.69°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°WEnsenada — 34.53°S, 58.47°WUquia — 23.20°S, 65.33°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Scelidotherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 44 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Scelidotherium and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Scelidotherium and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

342 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 43 sites for Scelidotherium, 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

30 references

Each of the 61 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. 18 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 Scelidotherium

Credit
LadyofHats
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Scelidotherium leptocephalum · MNHN-Montevideo:137,722

3D model

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

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 itScelidotheriinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1839