A Well-Preserved Ground Sloth (Megalonyx) Cranium from Turin, Monona County, Iowa

Authors

H. Gregory McDonald, Idaho State UniversityFollow
Duane C. Anderson, University of IowaFollow

Document Type

Research

Keywords

Ground sloth, Xenarthra, Megalonyx, Turin local fauna, Pleistocene, Monona Co., Iowa

Abstract

A well-preserved cranium of a large Pleistocene ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) is described in detail and compared with six other North American Megalonyx crania. Although the morphology of the Iowa specimen compares favorably with all others, the descending flange of the zygomatic arch is unusual in that it is sharply deflected to the posterior. This suggests a more horizontal component to the masseter. Two new and six previous Iowa records of Megalonyx in Iowa are reported or reexamined.

Publication Date

December 1983

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

90

Issue

4

First Page

134

Last Page

140

Copyright

©1983 Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

McDonald, H. Gregory and Anderson, Duane C. (1983) "A Well-Preserved Ground Sloth (Megalonyx) Cranium from Turin, Monona County, Iowa," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 90(4), 134-140.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol90/iss4/6