Fossils & Artifacts for Sale | Paleo Enterprises

Rare Sloth Claw Fossil

$350.00

Rare Sloth Claw  Megalonyx leptostomus late Pliocene  North Florida
2″  $425 order f2656
COMMENTS:  very rare ancestor of the later Megalonyx harlanii.  Perfect with no restoratrion, no tip damage.  Super specimen.

Megalonyx leptostomus €” the narrow-mouthed sloth €” is an extinct species of giant ground sloth that lived in North America during the BlancanNebraskan ages (about 3 to 1.2 MYA) .

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Rare Sloth Claw Fossil | Fossils & Artifacts for Sale | Paleo Enterprises | Fossils & Artifacts for Sale
Rare Sloth Claw Fossil | Fossils & Artifacts for Sale | Paleo Enterprises | Fossils & Artifacts for SaleRare Sloth Claw Fossil | Fossils & Artifacts for Sale | Paleo Enterprises | Fossils & Artifacts for Sale
Rare Sloth Claw  Megalonyx leptostomus late Pliocene  North Florida
2″  $425 order f2656
COMMENTS:  very rare ancestor of the later Megalonyx harlanii.  Perfect with no restoratrion, no tip damage.  Super specimen.

Megalonyx leptostomus — the narrow-mouthed sloth — is an extinct species of giant ground sloth that lived in North America during the Blancan-Nebraskan ages (about 3 to 1.2 MYA) .

Sloth

Sloths belong to the group called Xenarthrans, formerly called Edentata, including anteaters, glyptodonts, armadillos and sloths.  Those from Florida evolved in South America.  Most fossil xenarthrans have no enamel on their teeth, but the teeth continued to grow throughout the life of the animal so as to compensate for this. There were basically three different types or genus of sloths in Florida, the mylodontids, the megalonychids, and the megatheres.  The first includes the Thinobastides in the Miocene, and the small Glossotherium chapadmalense and the larger Paramylodon  harlani.  These are ones which have the straight, more rounded in cross-section claw cores.

The second group are the megalonychids which arrived in the late Miocene and lasted until the late Pleistocene.  These start with the Pliometanastes  and grow progressively larger through M. curvidens, (early Pliocene), leptostomus, (late Pliocene-early Pleistocene) M. wheatleyi, and M. jeffersonii. These sloths had more curved, flat claw cores, as did the eremotheres.  In the teeth that follow, the smaller teeth are those of the earlier sloths.

The third type includes the enormous eremothere, megathere and the much smaller Nothrotheriops texanum.  These are relatively more scarce in Florida than the other two types.  The large Eremotherium teeth are often found split in half.  Indeed, all sloth teeth are fragile and need careful handling.

 

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