A New Record of the Extinct Ground Sloth Megalonyx jeffersonii from Kansas and Review of the History of the Genus in the State

The recovery of a partial skull comprised mostly of the braincase of the extinct sloth, Megalonyx jeffersonii from Hays, Ellis County, Kansas provides a better understanding of the distribution of this species in Kansas and on the Great Plains in general. While the age of the skull could not be determined by radiocarbon dating, its presence in the Peoria loess narrows the age of the specimen to the late Wisconsian, most likely the Last Glacial Maximum between 21,000- and 12,000-years BP. The sloth specimen is among the few vertebrate remains directly recovered from the Peoria loess.