| Megalonyx | |
|---|---|
| |
| An artist's illustration of Megalonyx jeffersonii | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Pilosa |
| Family: | †Megalonychidae |
| Genus: | †Megalonyx Richard Harlan, 1825 |
| Type species | |
| †Megalonyx jeffersonii Desmarest, 1822 | |
| Referred species | |
| |
Megalonyx (meaning "large claw"), also known as the Jefferson's ground sloth, is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae endemic to North America from the Hemphillian of the Late Miocene through to the Rancholabrean of the Pleistocene, living from ~10.3 million years ago — 11,000 years ago, existing for approximately 10.289 million years. Type species, Megalonyx Jeffersonii, measured about 3 m (9.8 ft) and weighed up to 1,000 kilograms.
Discovery and naming[]
The earliest specimens of this sloth was found by colonel John Stuart in Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia) in the year 1796, and sent the specimens to Thomas Jefferson (shortly before he became president and took office). The remains were multiple fragments (an ulna, a radius, a femur, and several foot bones, including large claws).
Intrigued by this new discovery, Jefferson examined the remains and wrote his observations in the paper ”A Memoir on the Discovery of Certain Bones of a Quadruped of the Clawed Kind in the Western Parts of Virginia” and sent his memoir to the the American Philosophical Society in the city of Philadelphia in 1797. The paper was published in 1799 alongside another paleontological paper written by Caspar Wistar, and these two papers became the first North American publications on paleontology and the beginning of North American vertebrate paleontology.
When Jefferson initially studied the bones, he mistook them for the bones of a lion, writing as such in his paper regarding it as a big cat. However when he learned of George Cuvier’s discovery of Megatherium and it being a sloth, he presented his discoveries to the baron and compared Megatherium with the specimen he held.
In 1822, Anselme Desmarest, a French naturalist and biologist, examined the remains and gave the specimen its genus name, Megalonyx.
In popular culture[]
- Megalonyx appeared in the documentary Before We Ruled The Earth.
- Sid, one of the main characters from Ice Age is stated to be a Megalonyx.
- Megalonyx appears in the game Jurassic World Alive.
Gallery[]
