The UTC Graduate School is pleased to announce that Julia Jones will present Master’s research titled, A Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Analysis of Parocnus serus, an Extinct Holocene Sloth from Haiti on 10\/03\/2025 at 2pm in Holt 211 (BGE Conference Room). Everyone is invited to attend.
Environmental Science
Chair: Dr. Timothy Gaudin
Co-Chair:
Abstract:
Parocnus serus is an extinct megalonychid ground sloth from Haiti that belongs to a unique radiation of Megalocnoidea ground sloths endemic to the Antillean islands that may be the sister group to all other sloths. P. serus was discovered in 1929 but prior to this thesis had not yet been described in detail or had its phylogenetic and taxonomic relationships with other Antillean sloths fully analyzed. This detailed, comparative, bone-by bone description of eight skull and mandible specimens supports the distinctiveness of Parocnus as a genus with P. serus being most closely related to, but distinct from P. domincanus. It also supports the existing size separation of the four genera of Antillean megalonychids. A morphological phylogenetic analysis of a sample of Antillean sloths was conducted, and the results support the close relationship between P. serus and P. torrei but does not provide conclusive results on the relationships among the other Antillean sloth taxa due to the limited number of taxa and specimens available for use in the analysis based on available resources and short comings in the current literature on these taxa. A principal components analysis was performed on a series of skull and mandibular measurements of Haitian sloth taxa. The results of this analysis support the separation of Parocnus, Acratocnus, and Neocnus into different genera, but it does not support the current species distinctions among the three previously recognized species of Neocnus from Haiti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UTC Graduate School is pleased to announce that Julia Jones will present Master’s research titled, A Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Analysis of Parocnus serus, an Extinct Holocene Sloth from Haiti on 10\/03\/2025 at 2pm in Holt 211 (BGE Conference Room). Everyone is invited to attend. Environmental Science Chair: Dr. Timothy Gaudin Co-Chair: Abstract: Parocnus serus is an extinct megalonychid ground sloth… <\/p>\n