[PDF][PDF] Ancient mitogenomes reveal the evolutionary history and biogeography of sloths

F Delsuc, M Kuch, GC Gibb, E Karpinski… - Current Biology, 2019 - cell.com
Living sloths represent two distinct lineages of small-sized mammals that independently
evolved arboreality from terrestrial ancestors. The six extant species are the survivors of an …

Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships

S Presslee, GJ Slater, F Pujos, AM Forasiepi… - Nature Ecology & …, 2019 - nature.com
The living tree sloths Choloepus and Bradypus are the only remaining members of Folivora,
a major xenarthran radiation that occupied a wide range of habitats in many parts of the …

Paleogene Xenarthra and the evolution of South American mammals

TJ Gaudin, DA Croft - Journal of Mammalogy, 2015 - academic.oup.com
Recent studies show Xenarthra to be even more isolated systematically from other placental
mammals than traditionally thought. The group not only represents 1 of 4 primary placental …

Reassessing the phylogeny and divergence times of sloths (Mammalia: Pilosa: Folivora), exploring alternative morphological partitioning and dating models

DM Casali, A Boscaini, TJ Gaudin… - Zoological Journal of …, 2022 - academic.oup.com
Phylogenetic relationships among sloths (Folivora) have been extensively studied in the
past few decades using maximum parsimony approaches. Recently, Bayesian phylogenetic …

The postcranial musculoskeletal system of xenarthrans: insights from over two centuries of research and future directions

E Amson, JA Nyakatura - Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 2018 - Springer
Xenarthrans stand out among mammals for various reasons, one of them being their
musculoskeletal postcranial specializations. Extant armadillos, anteaters, and sloths feature …

Phylogeny, macroevolutionary trends and historical biogeography of sloths: insights from a Bayesian morphological clock analysis

L Varela, PS Tambusso, HG McDonald… - Systematic …, 2019 - academic.oup.com
Sloths, like other xenarthrans, are an extremely interesting group of mammals that, after a
long history of evolution and diversification in South America, became established on …

The conquest of spaces: exploring drivers of morphological shifts through phylogenetic palaeoecology

JC Lamsdell - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2021 - Elsevier
Much of the focus of palaeobiological studies in the last century can be summarized as
seeking to understand how evolutionary lineages occupy new regions of morphological …

High morphological variation of vestibular system accompanies slow and infrequent locomotion in three-toed sloths

G Billet, L Hautier, RJ Asher… - … of the Royal …, 2012 - royalsocietypublishing.org
The semicircular canals (SCs), part of the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear, are directly
involved in the detection of angular motion of the head for maintaining balance, and exhibit …

[HTML][HTML] Functional traits of the world's late Quaternary large-bodied avian and mammalian herbivores

EJ Lundgren, SD Schowanek, J Rowan, O Middleton… - Scientific data, 2021 - nature.com
Prehistoric and recent extinctions of large-bodied terrestrial herbivores had significant and
lasting impacts on Earth's ecosystems due to the loss of their distinct trait combinations. The …

3D finite element analysis and geometric morphometrics of sloths (Xenarthra, Folivora) mandibles show insights on the dietary specializations of fossil taxa

L Varela, PS Tambusso, JMP Zerpa, RK McAfee… - Journal of South …, 2023 - Elsevier
Sloths are represented today only by two distantly-related small, arboreal, and folivorous
genera. However, the fossil record of the clade is composed of many more taxa, with much …