Finite element and morphological analysis in extant mammals’ claws and quaternary sloths’ ungual phalanges

As the ungual phalanges of tetrapods are the first structures that interact with the substrate, studying them is of great importance when wanting to know the locomotor behaviour of different species. In this work, we analyse the ungual phalanges of the third finger from the manus of several Pleistocene sloths: G. robustum, L. armatus, M. jeffersonii, M. americanum, S. leptocephalum; and of a wide range of extant xenarthrans and other mammals....