''Mesopotamocnus'' is an extinct genus of

megalonychid Megalonychidae is an extinct family of sloths including the extinct ''Megalonyx''. Megalonychids first appeared in the early Oligocene, about 35 million years (Ma) ago, in southern Argentina (Patagonia). There is actually one possible find dating ...

ground sloth that lived during the Late Miocene in what is now

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Fossils have been found in the

Ituzaingó Formation The Ituzaingó Formation ( es, Formación Ituzaingó), in older literature also described as Entre Ríos or Entrerriana Formation, is an extensive geological formation of Late Miocene (Tortonian, or Huayquerian in the SALMA classification) age i ...

of Argentina.

Etymology

The generic name, ''Mesopotamocnus'', is derived from "Mesopotam", from its geographic provenance,

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

, which in turn means "between rivers" in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, and -ocnus, meaning "lazy" or "slow" which is commonly used to name extinct sloths. The specific name, ''brevirostrum'', means "short snout".

Taxonomy

''Mesopotamocnus'' (as ''"Ortotherium" brevirostrum"'') was originally assigned to the

Nothrotheriidae Nothrotheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 17.5 mya—10,000 years ago, existing for approximately . Previously placed within the tribe Nothrotheriini or subfamily Nothrotheriinae within Megatheriidae, th ...

however, the genus ''Ortotherium'' is currently considered to be a megalonychid, without being assigned to a particular clade such as

Ortotheriinae Megalonychidae is an extinct family of sloths including the extinct ''Megalonyx''. Megalonychids first appeared in the early Oligocene, about 35 million years (Ma) ago, in southern Argentina (Patagonia). There is actually one possible find dating ...

, Megalocninae or Megalonychinae. Furthermore most of the genera and species that were traditionally considered nothrotheres are now considered members of the

Nothrotheriinae Nothrotheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 17.5 mya—10,000 years ago, existing for approximately . Previously placed within the tribe Nothrotheriini or subfamily Nothrotheriinae within Megatheriidae, th ...

, such as ''

Nothrotherium ''Nothrotherium'' is an extinct genus of medium-sized ground sloth from South America (Bolivia, Brazil and the Ware Formation, La Guajira, Colombia).Amson et al., 2016, p.12 It differs from ''Nothrotheriops'' in smaller size and differences in sk ...

'', ''

Nothropus ''Nothropus'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Nothrotheriidae, endemic to South America during the Pleistocene epoch. It lived from 0.781 mya—12,000 years ago existing for approximately . It was believed to be a ground-dwell ...

'', '' Pronothrotherium'', ''

Nothrotheriops ''Nothrotheriops'' is a genus of Pleistocene ground sloth found in North America, from what is now central Mexico to the southern United States. This genus of bear-sized xenarthran was related to the much larger, and far more famous '' Megatheriu ...

'', and ''

Mionothropus ''Mionothropus'' is an extinct genus of nothrotheriine nothrotheriid sloth which existed in Peru in the western Amazon Basin, during the late Miocene (Huayquerian age). It is known from the holotype LACM 4609/117533, which includes crania ...

'', or as basal Megatherioidea such as ''

Hapalops ''Hapalops'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth from the Early to Late Miocene of Brazil (Solimões Formation), Bolivia ( Honda Group), Colombia ( Honda Group),Croft, 2007, p.300 and Argentina (Santa Cruz Formation) in South America.

'', '' Schismotherium'', and '' Pelecyodon''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q113903696 Prehistoric sloths Prehistoric placental genera Miocene xenarthrans Miocene mammals of South America Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Huayquerian Ituzaingó Formation Fossil taxa described in 2014