SOUTH AMERICA 



Order EDENTATA: Edentates 



THE NEW WORLD edentates are discussed elsewhere in 

 the present volume, p. 34. The only edentate considered 

 in this section is the Patagonian giant ground sloth, which be- 

 came extinct after man reached southern South America. 



Family MEGATHERIIDAE : Giant Ground Sloths 



PATAGONIAN GIANT GROUND SLOTH 



GRYPOTHERIUM LISTAI (Ameghino) 



Neomylodon listai Ameghino, Premiere Notice sur le Neomylodon listai, un Representant 



Vivant des Anciens Edentes Gravigrades Fossiles de 1'Argentina, La Plata, Aug. 



1898; transl. in Natural Science, vol. 13, pp. 324-326, Nov., 1898 (Consuelo Cove, 



Last Hope Inlet, Patagonia). 

 SYNONYM: Grypotherium domesticum Hauthal, Roth, and Lehmann-Nitsche, Revista 



Mus. La Plata, vol. 9, pp. 409-474, 1899. 

 FIGS.: Hauthal, Roth, and Lehmann-Nitsche, 1899, pis. 1-5; Woodward, 1900, pis. 



5-9 (piece of skin). 



Much interest was aroused by the announcement in 1898 of 

 the discovery of a large piece of skin of a ground sloth in south- 

 ern Patagonia. In a preliminary notice, F. Ameghino briefly 

 described this and, believing it to represent a new genus re- 

 lated to the extinct giant Mylodon, named it Neomylodon listai, 

 after the ill-fated explorer Lista, who described what he be- 

 lieved to have been a living example in the region of the eastern 

 base of the Andes. Although it is probable that he was mis- 

 taken in identifying the animal he briefly saw, nevertheless the 

 finding soon afterward of the portion of skin with the hair in- 

 tact, and with the small bony nodules imbedded in it, as 

 characteristic of the Pleistocene Mylodons, raised at the time 

 high hope that a living example might yet be found. With 

 this object in view, H. Hesketh Prichard (1902a) undertook a 

 journey to the region, an account of which he gives in his book 

 "Through the Heart of Patagonia"; no evidence did he find, 

 however, that this mysterious animal was still extant. 



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