Megalocnus
The ground sloths of the extinct genus Megalocnus were among the largest of the Caribbean ground sloths, with individuals estimated to have weighed up to when alive. Two species have been described, M. rodens of Cuba, and M. zile of Hispaniola. Their relatives include other Caribbean ground sloths, such as Acratocnus, Mesocnus, Miocnus, Neocnus, Parocnus, and Paulocnus. M. zile is currently thought to be a junior synonym of Parocnus serus.
Subfossils of M. rodens indicate survival well into the Holocene. The most recent AMS radiocarbon date reported is 4190 BP, calibrated to c. 4700 BP. This is similar to the most recent date reported for a Hispaniolan sloth, 4391 BP, calibrated to c. 5000 BP, for the small and probably semiarboreal Neocnus comes, and some 1200 years after the earliest known date for human occupation of Cuba, 5140 BP, calibrated to c. 5900 BP.
