Ground sloth claw ?

[Joe_17]

Is this a Megatherium claw ? Just want to be sure before I make a purchase. It claims to have been found im Florida.

[Brett Breakin' Rocks]

21 minutes ago, Joe_17 said:

It claims to have been found im Florida.

That is pretty typical preservation for a claw core from the Florida rivers. In Savannah I was lucky enough to find a finger bone .. but never a claw core. Very cool ...

 

Cheers,

Brett

[Joe_17]

3 minutes ago, Brett Breakin' Rocks said:

That is pretty typical preservation for a claw core from the Florida rivers. In Savannah I was lucky enough to find a finger bone .. but never a claw core. Very cool ...

 

Cheers,

Brett

Is this from Jeffersons ground sloth or a different species do you think? Not sure on their ranges .

[Brett Breakin' Rocks]

5 minutes ago, Joe_17 said:

Is this from Jeffersons ground sloth or a different species do you think? Not sure on their ranges .

Oooooo .. that would be a question for @Harry Pristis or  @Shellseeker .. that is where my knowledge ends. 

 

Though .. that being said Harry Pristis shared jaw-dropping photos of some of the sloth digits that he had in his collection in a previous discussion on the matter.

 

Image Credit: Harry Pristis TFF

Image Credit: Harry Pristis TFF

[Joe_17]

@Harry Pristis Care to weigh in??

[Brett Breakin' Rocks]

29 minutes ago, Joe_17 said:

@Harry Pristis Care to weigh in??

I remember in my research you may also consider Eremotherium sp. (which was restricted to Florida) but I'm not quite sure if you can determine that from claw cores not associated with other bones. 

 

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/species/eremotherium-eomigrans/

 

Cheers,

Brett

[Harry Pristis]

I can't distinguish between species of sloths based on claws, with the exception of enormous eremothere examples.  The small one in question appears to be a pedal claw and could be from a young Glossotherium (for example) or it could be from an adult Nothrotheriops.

 

 

[Shellseeker]

On what is in Texas,  I would say almost every species...

 

Here is Megalonyx which includes Jefferson's ground sloth

Quote

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 ground sloth, having a range encompassing most of the contiguous United States, extending as far North as Alaska during warm periods.

They all have fossil claws in Texas:

Range
Paramylodon harlani: widely distributed across the U.S., especially in western states
Nothrotheriops shastensis: primarily western U.S. but also in Florida, Texas, Mexico
Megalonyx jeffersoni: wide distribution in over 150 sites in United States, including Alaska, northwestern Canada, Mexico

So, whoever designated your claw picked the the LARGEST sloth that ever existed and assigned it to a very small claw.

3 hours ago, Joe_17 said:

Megatherium claw ?

I would be skeptical... Eremotherium has claws up to 23 inches. What exactly makes this Megatherium when Harry indicates the difficulty identifying any isolated Sloth Claw...?

 

Here is a Jeffersons Ground Sloth claw..

Another different species:

 

Here is one I thought to be Megalonyx leptostomus :  it is small, 3 inches and a candidate based on width versus length....

 

So, ask the question. What is the species of this sloth claw and how does he determine the correct Identification?

 

[PrehistoricWonders]

@Harry Pristis could you check my recent post about FL canines I got