Megalonyx
Megalonyx (Greek, "large claw") is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae, native to North America during Pleistocene epoch. It became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event at the end of the Rancholabrean of the Pleistocene, living from ~2.4 Mya—11,000 years ago. The type species, M. jeffersonii, measured about 3 meters (9.8 ft) and weighed up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb).[2] Megalonyx is descended from Pliometanastes, a genus of ground sloth that had arrived in North America during the Late Miocene, prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange. Megalonyx had the widest distribution of any North American...read more