Skip to Main Content
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance logo
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library logo

Extinct Ground Sloths (Paramylodon harlani, Nothrotheriops shastensis, and Megalonyx jeffersoni) Fact Sheet: Bibliography & Resources

Extinct Ground Sloths (Paramylodon harlani, Nothrotheriops shastensis, and Megalonyx jeffersoni)

Bibliography

Auler, A.P. Smart 1999. Toca Da Boa Vista, Bahia state: the longest known cave in the Southern Hemisphere. In: Schobbenhaus, D. Campos, E. Queiroz, M. Winge, M. Berbert-Born (eds). Sitios Geologicos e Paleontologicos de Brasil. Online: http://www.unb.br/ig/sigep/sitio019/sitio019.htm

Bargo, M.S,, S. Vizcaíno, F. Archuby, R. E. Blanco 2000. Limb bone proportions, strength and digging in some lujanian (Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene) Mylodontid ground sloths (Mammalia, Xenarthra) Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20(3): 601-610.

Bargo, M.S. 2001 The ground sloth Megatherium americanum: Skull shape, bite forces, and diet. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 46(2):173–192

Bargo, M.S., G. Luliis, S. Vizcaíno 2006. Hypsodonty in Pleistocene ground sloths. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 51(1): 53-61. http://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app51/app51-053.pdf

Brenzel, D. and H. Semken, The Tarkio Valley sloth project: a 12,000 year-old mystery in SW Iowa. Retrieved Apr 5, 2009 from: http://slothcentral.com/about

Coltrain, J.B., J. Harris, T. Cerling, J. Ehleringer, M. Dearing, J. Ward, J. Allen 2004. Rancho La Brea stable isotope biogeochemistry and its implications for the palaeoecology of the late Pleistocene, coastal southern California. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 249:271-282.

Delsuc, F. and E. Douzery 2008. Recent advances and future prospects in xenarthran molecular phylogenetics. In: Vizcaino, S. and w. Loughry, (eds), The Biology of the Xenarthra. University Press of Florida. pp.11-23.

Fariña, R. A.; R. E. Blanco 1996. Megatherium the Stabber. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 263: 1725–1729. doi:10.1098/rspb.1996.0252. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0962-8452(19961222)263%3A1377%3C1725%3AMTS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5.

Flynn, J. B. Kowallis, C. Nuñez, O. Carranza-Casteñada, W. Miller, C. Swisher, E. Lindsay 2005. Geochronology of Hemphillian-Blancan Aged Strata, Guanajuato, Mexico, and Implications for timing of the Great American Biotic Interchange. Journal of Geology 113:287-307.

Hansen, R. 1978. Shasta ground sloth food habits, Rampart Cave, Arizona. Paleobiology 4:302-319.

Hill, C., D. Gillette 1987. A uranium series date for the Shasta ground sloth, Nothrotheriops shastensis, from Carlsbad Cavern, New Mexico. Journal of Mammalogy 68(3): 718-719.

Hoganson, J, H.G. McDonald 2007. First report of Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) in North Dakota: paleobiogeographical and paleocecological significance. Journal of Mammalogy 88(1): 73-80.

Martin, P. 1975. Sloth droppings. Natural History 84 (7), 74–81.

McDonald, H. G. 1989. Not all ground sloth bones are pathological but some are. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 9(3): 32A

McDonald, H. G. 1996. Biogeography and paleoecology of ground sloths in California, Arizona and Nevada. San Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly 43:61-65.

McDonald, H. G., L. Agenbroad, C. Haden 2004. Late Pleistocene mylodont sloth Paramylodon harlani (Mammalia: Xenarthra) from Arizona. The Southwestern Naturalist 49:(2):229-238

McDonald, H.G. and S. Pelikan 2005. Mammoths and mylodonts: Exotic species from two different continents in North American Pleistocene faunas.

McDonald, H.G., G. Iuliis 2008. Fossil history of sloths. Vizcaíno , S. and W. Loughry (eds) In: The Biology of the Xenarthra. University Press of Florida. Gainesville/Tallahassee pp. 39-55.

McKenna, M. and S. Bell 1997. Classification of Mammals above the Species Level.

McKenna, M., A,. Wyss, J. Flynn 2006. Paleogene Pseudoglyptodont Xenarthrans from Central Chile and Argentine Patagonia. American Museum Novitates 3536:1-18. http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3536%5B1%3APPXFCC%5D2.0.CO%3B2

McNab, B. 1985. Energetics, population biology, and distribution of Xenarthrans, living and extinct. G. Montgomery (eds) In: The Evolution and Ecology of Armadillos, Sloths, and Vermilinguas. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London. pp. 219-232.

Muizon, C., H. G. McDonald, R.Salas, M. Urbina 2004. The youngest species of the aquatic sloth Thalassocnus and a reassessment of the relationships of the nothrothere sloths (Mammalia: Xenarthra). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(2):387-397.

Naish, D. 2005 Fossils Explained 51: Sloths, Geology Today Vol 21, No. 6, November-December: 232-238.

Naples, V. 1989. The feeding mechanism in the Pleistocene ground sloth, Glossotherium. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Contributions in Science 415:1-23.

Poinar, H.M. Hofreiter, W. Spaulding, P. Martin, B. Stankiewicz, H. Bland, R. Evershed, G. Possnert, S. Pääbo 1998. Molecular coproscopy: dung and diet of the extinct ground sloth Nothrotheriops shastensis. Science 281:402-406.

Ruez, D. 2005. Diet of Pleistocene Paramylodon harlani (xenarthra:mylodontidae): review of methods and preliminary use of carbon isotopes. Texas Journal of Science. Nov. 1, 2005.

Schubert, B., R. Graham, H.G. McDonald, E. Grimm, T. Stafford 2004. Latest Pleistocene paleoecology of Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) and elk-moose (Cervalces scotti) in northern Illinois.
Quaternary Research 61:231-240.

Spaulding, W. E. Leopold, T. Van Devender 1983. Late Wisconsin paleoecology of the American Southwest. In: Porter, S. (ed) Late Quaternary environments of the United States: Vol. 1, the late Pleistocene. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. pp. 259-293.

Steadman, d. P. Martin, R. MacPhee, A. Jull, H.G. McDonald, C. Woods, M. Iturralde-Vinent, G. Hodgins 2005. Asynchronous extinction of late Quaternary sloths on continents and islands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102(33):11763-111768. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1187974&blobtype=pdf

Vizcaíno, S.M. Zarate, M.S. Bargo, A. Dondas 2001. Pleistocene burrows in the Mar del Plata area (Argentina) and their probable builders. Acta Palaeontologica Pol.

Vizcaíno, S.M., S. Bargo, R. Farina 2008. Form, function, and paleobiology in xenarthrans. In: Vizcaíno, S. and W. Loughry (eds) The Biology of the Xenarthra. University Press of Florida. Gainesville/Tallahassee pp. 86-99.

Additional Internet Resources

(and where to view fossils in museums)

SDZWA Library Links