Arctotherium is an extinct genus of short-faced bears endemic to Central and South America from the Late Pliocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. Arctotherium migrated from North America to South
MACN Arctotherium
The last short-faced bear, and the ecological successor of A. wingei, is the spectacled bear.
Life restoration of Arctotherium bonariense.
Tropical savanna forests and grasslands, such as the modern Cerrado, would have supplanted the Amazon as the dominant biome of Pleistocene South America, and stretched into Central America. This was A. wingei's preferred habitat.
The Tremarctinae or short-faced bears is a subfamily of Ursidae that contains one living representative, the spectacled bear of South America, and several extinct species from four genera: the Florida
Arctotherium
…Arctotherium ("bear beast") is an extinct genus of short-faced bears endemic to Central and South America from the Late Pliocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. Arctotherium migrated from North America to South America…
Skeletal reconstruction of Arctodus simus.