Mesopotamocnus Explained

Mesopotamocnus is an extinct genus of megalonychid ground sloth that lived during the Late Miocene in what is now Argentina. Fossils have been found in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina.

Etymology

The generic name, Mesopotamocnus, is derived from "Mesopotam", from its geographic provenance, Mesopotamia, which in turn means "between rivers" in Greek, and -ocnus, meaning "lazy" or "slow" which is commonly used to name extinct sloths. The specific name, brevirostrum, means "short snout".^[1]

Taxonomy

Mesopotamocnus (as "Ortotherium" brevirostrum") was originally assigned to the Nothrotheriidae however, the genus Ortotherium is currently considered to be a megalonychid, without being assigned to a particular clade such as Ortotheriinae, Megalocninae or Megalonychinae.^[2] Furthermore, most of the genera and species that were traditionally considered nothrotheres are now considered members of the Nothrotheriinae, such as Nothrotherium, Nothropus, Pronothrotherium, Nothrotheriops, and Mionothropus, or as basal Megatherioidea such as Hapalops, Schismotherium, and Pelecyodon.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Notes and References

1. Diego Brandoni . 2014 . A new genus of Megalonychidae (Mammalia, Xenarthra) from the Late Miocene of Argentina . Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia . 17 . 1 . 33–42 . 10.4072/rbp.2014.1.04 . free .
2. Brandoni . Diego . 2011-01-01 . The Megalonychidae (Xenarthra, Tardigrada) from the late Miocene of Entre Ríos Province, Argentina, with remarks on their systematics and biogeography . Geobios . en . 44 . 1 . 33–44 . 10.1016/j.geobios.2010.06.005 . 2011Geobi..44...33B . 0016-6995. 11336/79978 . free .
3. Gaudin. Timothy J. . 2004-02-01 . Phylogenetic relationships among sloths (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Tardigrada): the craniodental evidence . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 140 . 2 . 255–305 . 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2003.00100.x . 0024-4082. free .
4. Gerardo De Iuliis, Timothy J. Gaudin and Matthew J. Vicars . 2011 . A new genus and species of nothrotheriid sloth (Xenarthra, Tardigrada, Nothrotheriidae) from the Late Miocene (Huayquerian) of Peru . Palaeontology . 54 . 1 . 171–205 . 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.01001.x . 2011Palgy..54..171D . free .
5. Pujos . F. . Iuliis, G. de. . Quispe, B.M. . 2011 . Hiskatherium saintandrei, gen. et sp. nov.: an unusual sloth from the Santacrucian of Quebrada Honda (Bolivia) and an overview of middle Miocene, small megatherioids . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 31 . 5 . 1131–1149 . 10.1080/02724634.2011.599463 . 2011JVPal..31.1131P . 86755668 .