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]
Description
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]
Paleobiology
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]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Scillato, G. J. (2013). Los Cingulata (Mammalia, Xenarthra) del “Conglomerado Osífero”(Mioceno tardío) de la Formación Ituzaingó de Entre Ríos, Argentina. Publicación Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina, 14(1).
1 2 3 4 Ameghino, F. (1891). Caracteres diagnósticos de cincuenta especies nuevas de mamíferos fósiles argentinos. Revista Argentina de Historia Natural, 1(3), 129–167.
↑ Cordeiro de Castro, M. (2015). Sistemática y evolución de los armadillos Dasypodini (Xenarthra, Cingulata, Dasypodidae). Revista del Museo de La Plata| Sección Paleontología, 15.
↑ Oliveira, E. V., & Pereira, J. C. (2009). Intertropical cingulates (Mammalia, Xenarthra) from the Quaternary of Southern Brazil: Systematics and paleobiogeographical aspects. Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia, 12(3), 167–178.
↑ Cione, A. L., Dahdul, W. M., Lundberg, J. G., & Machado-Allison, A. (2009). Megapiranha paranensis, a new genus and species of Serrasalmidae (Characiformes, Teleostei) from the upper Miocene of Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29(2), 350–358.
↑ Schmidt, G. I. (2013). Los ungulados nativos (Litopterna y Notoungulata: Mammalia) del “Mesopotamiense”(Mioceno Tardío) de Entre Ríos, Argentina. Publicación Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina, 14(1).
↑ Schmidt, G. I. (2013). Litopterna y Notoungulata (Mammalia) de la Formación Ituzaingó (Mioceno tardío-Plioceno) de la Provincia de Entre Ríos: sistemática, bioestratigrafía y paleobiogeografía (Doctoral dissertation, Universidad Nacional de La Plata).
↑ Babot, J. M., & Ortiz, P. E. (2009). Primer registro de Borhyaenoidea (Mammalia, Metatheria, Sparassodonta) en la provincia de Tucumán (Formación India Muerta, Grupo Choromoro; Mioceno tardío). Acta Geológica Lilloana, 34–48.
↑ Riff, D., Romano, P. S. R., Oliveira, G. R., & Aguilera, O. A. (2010). Neogene crocodile and turtle fauna in northern South America. Amazonia. Landscapes and Species Evolution: A Look Into the Past, 259–280.
↑ Franco, M. J., & Brea, M. (2015). First extra-Patagonian record of Podocarpaceae fossil wood in the Upper Cenozoic (Ituzaingó Formation) of Argentina. New Zealand Journal of Botany, 53(2), 103–116.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.