Great American InterchangeThe Great American Biotic Interchange (commonly abbreviated as GABI), also known as the Great American Interchange and the Great American Faunal Interchange, was an important late Cenozoic paleozoogeographic biotic interchange event in which land and freshwater fauna migrated from North America via Central America to South America and vice versa, as the volcanic Isthmus of Panama rose up from the sea floor and bridged the formerly separated continents. Although earlier dispersals had occurred, probably over water, the migration accelerated dramatically about 2.
GlyptodonAutomatic taxobox | fossil_range = Pliocene?-Pleistocene (Montehermosan?–Lujanian)~ | image = Glyptodon-1.jpg | image_caption = Skeleton of G. clavipes at the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna | taxon = Glyptodon | authority = Owen, 1839 | type_species = Glyptodon clavipes | type_species_authority = Owen, 1839 | subdivision_ranks = Other Species | subdivision = * G. elongatus? Burmeister, 1866 G. jatunkhirkhi Cuadrelli et al., 2020 G. munizi Ameghino, 1881 G. reticulatus Owen, 1845 | range_map = Glyptodon and Glyptotherium Distribution Map2.
Columbian mammothThe Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) is an extinct species of mammoth that inhabited the Americas as far north as the Northern United States and as far south as Costa Rica during the Pleistocene epoch. The Columbian mammoth descended from mammoths that colonised North America around 1.5 million years ago, that later hybridised with woolly mammoths during the Middle Pleistocene, prior to 420,000 years ago. The Columbian mammoth was among the last mammoth species, and the pygmy mammoths evolved from them on the Channel Islands of California.
Mammoth steppeDuring the Last Glacial Maximum, the mammoth steppe, also known as steppe-tundra, was once the Earth's most extensive biome. It stretched east-to-west, from the Iberian Peninsula in the west of Europe, across Eurasia to North America, through Beringia (what is today Alaska) and Canada; from north-to-south, the steppe reached from the arctic islands southward to China. The mammoth steppe was cold and dry, and relatively featureless, though topography and geography varied considerably throughout.
Ground slothGround sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. Ground sloths varied widely in size, with the largest genera Megatherium and Eremotherium being around the size of elephants. Ground sloths are a paraphyletic group, as living tree sloths are thought to have evolved from ground sloth ancestors. The early evolution of ground sloths took place during the late Paleogene and Neogene of South America, while the continent was isolated.
South American native ungulatesSouth American native ungulates, commonly abbreviated as SANUs, are extinct ungulate-like mammals of controversial affinities that were indigenous to South America prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange. They comprise five major groups conventionally ranked as orders—Astrapotheria, Litopterna, Notoungulata, Pyrotheria, and Xenungulata—as well as the primitive "condylarth" groups Didolodontidae and Kollpaniinae.
Collared peccaryThe collared peccary (Dicotyles tajacu) is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Tayassuidae found in North, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the genus Dicotyles. They are commonly referred to as javelina, saíno, or báquiro, although these terms are also used to describe other species in the family. The species is also known as the musk hog. In Trinidad, it is colloquially known as quenk.
Equus scottiEquus scotti (translated from Latin as Scott's horse, named after vertebrate paleontologist William Berryman Scott) is an extinct species of Equus, the genus that includes the horse. Equus scotti was native to North America. E. scotti likely evolved from earlier, more zebra-like North American equids early in the Pleistocene epoch. The species may have crossed from North America to Eurasia over the Bering land bridge during the Pleistocene. The species died out at the end of the last ice age in the large-scale Pleistocene extinction of megafauna.
MegalonyxMegalonyx (Greek, "great-claw") is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae, native to North America. It evolved during the Pliocene Epoch and became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event at the end of the Pleistocene-Early Holocene, living from ~5 million to ~13,000 years ago. The type species, M. jeffersonii (also called Jefferson's ground sloth), the youngest and largest known species, measured about in length and weighed up to .
MegalonychidaeMegalonychidae is an extinct family of sloths including the extinct Megalonyx. Megalonychids first appeared in the early Oligocene, about 35 million years (Ma) ago, in southern Argentina (Patagonia). There is, however, one possible find dating to the Eocene, about 40 Ma ago, on Seymour Island in Antarctica (which was then still connected to South America). They first reached North America by island-hopping across the Central American Seaway, about 9 million years ago, prior to formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 2.
