| Dasypus neogaeus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Cingulata |
| Family: | Dasypodidae |
| Genus: | Dasypus |
| Species: | †D. neogaeus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Dasypus neogaeus Ameghino, 1891 | |
Dasypus neogaeus is an extinct species of armadillo, belonging to the genus Dasypus , alongside the modern nine-banded armadillo. The only known fossil is a single osteoderm, though it has been lost, that was found in the Late Miocene strata of Argentina. [1]
Fossils of Dasypus neogaeus were first collected from the Late Miocene “Osiferous Conglomerate” of the Ituzaingo Formation of Parana, Entre Rios Province in northern Argentina by paleontologist Florentino Ameghino. [1] [2] However, some authors recently have stated that the fossils may have come from the Pleistocene. [3] The fossils consisted only of a single, mobile osteoderm from the dorsal carapace. [1] [2] The osteoderm was then sent to the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum in Buenos Aires, where it was described and named Dasypus neogaeus by Ameghino in 1891. [2] [1] Since then, no additional fossils have been assigned to the taxon, although fossils of the same age have been unearthed in other areas of Argentina. [4] [5]
The holotype osteoderm measures only around 13 millimeters long, but indicates a species larger than Dasypus hybridus but smaller than D. novemcinctus. [1] The osteoderm also differs from that of other species in that it bears more piliferous foramina, 8 in total, on the posterior end than D. novemcinctus. [2] [1] [4] Although it only bears 2 physical diagnostic features and is known from very fragmentary fossils, more diagnostic characters could be in the histological anatomy of the osteoderm. [1]
Based on the taphonomic and environmental information provided by the “Osiferous Conglomerate” the holotype was found in, D. neogaeus lived in areas with gallery forests near water. [1] This is contrary to the modern Dasypus species, which live in grasslands, suggesting that Dasypus and other smaller armadillos recently underwent an ecological change. [6] [1]
Fossils have only been unearthed from the Ituzaingó Formation of Entre Rios, Argentina, which preserves vast tidal flats similar to those in the modern day Amazon and a warm climate. [7] Large, herbivorous notoungulate mammals in the Ituzaingó Formation were widespread, including the toxodontids Xotodon and Adinotherium , [8] and litopterns such as Brachytherium , Cullinia , Diadiaphorus, Neobrachytherium, Oxyodontherium, Paranauchenia, Promacrauchenia, Proterotherium and Scalabrinitherium. [9] Large, armored glyptodonts like Palaehoplophorus , Eleutherocercus , and Plohophorus [1] lived in the area as well as other cingulates like the pampatheres Kraglievichia [1] and Scirrotherium . [10] Carnivores included the phorusrhacids Devincenzia and Andalgalornis [11] and sparassodonts, [12] with giant crocodilians like Gryposuchus and Mourasuchus in the freshwater. [13] Bamboos, coconut palms, and other palms were prevalent. [14]
Protypotherium is an extinct genus of notoungulate mammals native to South America during the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. A number of closely related animals date back further, to the Eocene. Fossils of Protypotherium have been found in the Deseadan Fray Bentos Formation of Uruguay, Muyu Huasi and Nazareno Formations of Bolivia, Cura-Mallín and Río Frías Formations of Chile, and Santa Cruz, Salicas, Ituzaingó, Aisol, Cerro Azul, Cerro Bandera, Cerro Boleadoras, Chichinales, Sarmiento and Collón Curá Formations of Argentina.
Scalabrinitherium is an extinct genus of mammals of the family Macraucheniidae. Fossils of this animal were found among the fossils of prehistoric xenarthrans in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina.
Pampatheriidae is an extinct family of large cingulates related to armadillos. They first appeared in South America during the mid-Miocene, and Holmesina and Pampatherium spread to North America during the Pleistocene after the formation of the Isthmus of Panama as part of the Great American Interchange. They became extinct as part of the end-Pleistocene extinctions, about 12,000 years ago.
The Huayquerian age is a period of geologic time within the Late Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification. It follows the Chasicoan and precedes the Montehermosan age.
Stegotherium is an extinct genus of long-nosed armadillo, belonging to the Dasypodidae family alongside the nine-banded armadillo. It is currently the only genus recognized as a member of the tribe Stegotheriini. It lived during the Early Miocene of Patagonia and was found in Colhuehuapian rocks from the Sarmiento Formation, Santacrucian rocks from the Santa Cruz Formation, and potentially also in Colloncuran rocks from the Middle Miocene Collón Curá Formation. Its strange, almost toothless and elongated skull indicates a specialization for myrmecophagy, the eating of ants, unique among the order Cingulata, which includes pampatheres, glyptodonts and all the extant species of armadillos.
Neosclerocalyptus was an extinct genus of glyptodont that lived during the Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene of Southern South America, mostly Argentina. It was small compared to many Glyptodonts at only around 2 meters long and 360 kilograms.
The Ituzaingó Formation, in older literature also described as Entre Ríos or Entrerriana Formation, is an extensive geological formation of Late Miocene age in the Paraná Basin of the Corrientes, Santa Fe and Entre Ríos Provinces in Mesopotamia, northeastern Argentina. The formation comprises mudstones, cross-bedded sandstones and conglomerates deposited in a fluvio-deltaic environment and is renowned for the preservation of a rich fossil assemblage, including many mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, bivalves, foraminifera, ichnofossils and flora.
Cullinia is an extinct genus of litoptern, an order of South American native ungulates that included horse-like and camel-like animals such as Macrauchenia. It is only known from fragmentary remains. Cullinia levis is known from Chasicoan remains found in the Arroyo Chasicó Formation of Argentina, and remains from the Brazilian state of Acre and the Huayquerian Ituzaingó Formation have been assigned to Cullinia sp..
Epipeltephilus is an extinct genus of armadillo, belonging to the family Peltephilidae, the "horned armadillos", whose most famous relative was Peltephilus. Epipeltephilus is the last known member of its family, becoming extinct during the Chasicoan period. It was found in the Rio Mayo Formation and the Arroyo Chasicó Formation of Argentina, and in northern Chile.
Proterotherium is an extinct genus of litoptern mammal of the family Proterotheriidae that lived during the Late Miocene of Argentina and Chile. Fossils of this genus have been found in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina, and the Galera Formation of Chile.
Kraglievichia is an extinct genus of cingulate belonging to the family Pampatheriidae. It lived from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Scirrotherium is an extinct genus of pampatheres, a family of herbivorous cingulates, related to the similar but smaller modern armadillos, and with the now extinct glyptodonts, well-known from their shell-like armor. Its scientific name is derived from the Greek prefix "skiros-", "cover", and the suffix "-therion, "beast", while the name of the type species, hondaensis, honors the town of Honda, in the Tolima Department of Colombia. Scirrotherium is one of several genera of xenarthrans found in the La Venta fauna, dated from the Middle Miocene.
Proeuphractus is an extinct genus of xenarthran, related to the modern armadillos. It lived from the Early to the Late Miocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Prozaedyus is an extinct genus of chlamyphorid armadillo that lived during the Middle Oligocene and Middle Miocene in what is now South America.
Palaehoplophorus is an extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived from the Middle to the Late Miocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Comaphorus is a dubious extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived during the Late Miocene in Argentina, but only one fossil has ever been referred to the animal.
Caiman australis is an extinct species of caiman described in 1858 on the basis of a left maxilla that was collected from the Upper Miocene age Ituzaingó Formation of Entre Rios, Argentina.
Ortotherium is a genus of megalonychid ground sloth from the Late Miocene Ituzaingó Formation of Entre Rios Province, Argentina. Although many species were described, the only valid species of the genus is Ortotherium laticurvatum, with many species being junior synonyms. Ortotherium is known from very fragmentary material, all of which is material from the mandible and teeth. The holotype of O. laticurvatum consists of an incomplete left dentary that had been unearthed from a series of sediments known as ‘Conglomerado osifero’ in Paraná, Argentina. Argentina paleontologist Florentino Ameghino named the species in 1885, though he would go on to name four more, invalid, species of the genus. One species however, O. brevirostrum, has been reclassified as Mesopotamocnus.
Peltephilidae is a family of South American cingulates (armadillos) that lived for over 40 million years, but peaked in diversity towards the end of the Oligocene and beginning of the Miocene in what is now Argentina. They were exclusive to South America due to its geographic isolation at the time, one of many of the continent's strange endemic families. Peltephilids are one of the earliest known cingulates, diverging from the rest of Cingulata in the Early Eocene.
The Camacho Formation is a Huayquerian geologic formation in Uruguay.