Xibalbaonyx oviceps, a new megalonychid ground sloth (Folivora, Xenarthra) from the Late Pleistocene of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, and its paleobiogeographic significance

• Verfasst von: Stinnesbeck, Sarah [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Zell, Patrick [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Hering, Fabio [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Xibalbaonyx oviceps, a new megalonychid ground sloth (Folivora, Xenarthra) from the Late Pleistocene of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, and its paleobiogeographic significance
• Verf.angabe: Sarah R. Stinnesbeck, Eberhard Frey, Jerónimo Avíles Olguín, Wolfgang Stinnesbeck, Patrick Zell, Heinrich Mallison, Arturo González González, Eugenio Aceves Núñez, Adriana Velázquez Morlet, Alejandro Terrazas Mata, Martha Benavente Sanvicente, Fabio Hering, Carmen Rojas Sandoval
• Umfang: 27 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 22.02.2018
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Paläontologische Zeitschrift
• Jahr Quelle: 2017
• Band/Heft Quelle: 91(2017), 2, S. 245-271
• ISSN Quelle: 1867-6812
• DOI: doi:10.1007/s12542-017-0349-5
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1570109680

Abstract

Here we describe a new genus and species of giant ground sloth, Xibalbaonyx oviceps (Megalonychidae, Xenarthra), from the drowned cave system of the northeastern Yucatán Peninsula. The specimen is Late Pleistocene in age and was discovered in the Zapote sinkhole (cenote) near Puerto Morelos in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Xibalbaonyx oviceps differs significantly from all hitherto known Megalonychidae including those from the Greater Antilles and South America. The new taxon suggests a local Caribbean radiation of ground sloths during the Late Pleistocene, which is consistent with the dispersal of the group along a Mexican corridor.