A new addition to Pleistocene megalonychid sloth diversity in the northern Neotropics

We report here a new record of a megalonychid sloth from a late Pleistocene mammal assemblage from Cueva de Iglesitas (Mi.50), Caracas, Venezuela. This new site, the first with a Pleistocene fauna found in the vicinity of Caracas, is in a pristine geological and stratigraphic area and preserves previously untouched sediments containing fossils that provide important information about the late Pleistocene paleofauna and paleoenvironment of Caracas and the southwestern Caribbean region. A preliminary assessment of the relationship of this new sloth to other members of the Megalonychidae is presented. •First occurrence of a megalonychid sloth called aff. Xibalbaonyx from a late Pleistocene in Cueva de Iglesitas, Venezuela.•The presence of aff. Xibalbaonyx in Venezuela, become another member to the intertropical taxa from the Americas.•The cueva de Iglesitas specimen does possess a distinctive feature among Xenarthra Megalonychidae.•Aff. Xibalbaonyx is associated with enviroments found in the American intertropical corridor during the late Pleistocene.