Neonematherium

Neonematherium Temporal range: Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Pilosa
Family:	†Scelidotheriidae
Genus:	†Neonematherium Ameghino 1904
Species:	†N. flabellatum
Binomial name
†Neonematherium flabellatum Ameghino 1904

Neonematherium is an extinct genus of scelidotheriid ground sloths that lived in Argentina,^[1] Chile, and Colombia during the Early to Late Miocene. Fossils have been found in the Honda Group of Colombia,^[2] and the Río Frías Formation of Chile.^[3]

Taxonomy

Neonematherium is a member of the Scelidotheriidae, a family of ground sloths known from the Oligocene, Miocene Pliocene, Pleistocene, and the Early Holocene epochs and are characterized by an elongated snout. Scelidotheres themselves part are usually placed as a subfamily of the Mylodontidae, although they are sometimes considered a separate family, Scelidotheriidae.^[4]

Below is a phylogenetic tree of the Scelidotheriidae, based on the work of Nieto et al. 2021, showing the position of Neonematherium.^[5]

References