Nothrotheriops

Name: Nothrotheriops.
Phonetic: No-fro-feh-re-ops.
Named By: Hoffstetter‭ ‬-‭ ‬1954.‭
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Xenarthra,‭ ‬Nothrotheriidae.
Species: N.‭ ‬shastensis (type),‭ ‬N.‭ ‬texanus.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: ‭ ‬2.75‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: Across the USA and parts of Mexico.
Time period: Pliocene through to the end of the Pleistocene.
Fossil representation: Multiple specimens,‭ ‬some nearly complete with at least one with remnants of soft tissue.

       A relatively small ground sloth when compared to others such as Megatherium,‭ ‬Eremotherium and Glossotherium,‭ ‬Nothrotheriops seems to have had a similar lifestyle and dietary preference of browsing upon vegetation.‭ ‬One specimen of Nothrotheriops from Aden Crater in New Mexico was found in a lava tube and still had the remnants of hair and even a tendon still preserved.‭ ‬The best known species of Nothrotheriops is N.‭ ‬shastensis which is also known as the‭ ‘‬Shasta ground sloth‭’ (‬after Shasta County,‭ ‬California‭)‬.

Further reading
- Reconstruction of Cranial Morphology and Analysis of Function in the Pleistocene Ground Sloth Nothrotheriops shastense (Mammalia, Megatheriidae). - Contributions in Science 389. - Virginia L. Naples - 1987.
- Nothrotheriops from the Pleistocene of Oklahoma and Paleogeography of the Genus. - The Southwestern Naturalist. 36 (2): 178–185. - W. A. Akersten & H. G. McDonald - 1991.

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