Palaehoplophorus (also spelled, historically, Palaeohoplophorus) is an extinctgenus of glyptodont. It lived from the Middle to the Late Miocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
This animal, like all glyptodonts, had a thick carapace, composed of numerous osteoderm fused together, covering a large part of its body. The plates of its carapace bore a medium-sized, depressed central figure, surrounded by a wrinkled peripheral zone, divided by barely defined furrows and irregular tubercles. Large perforations opened in the furrows around the central figure and between the peripheral figures. The tail was protected by a series of mobile osteoderm rings, presenting a similar ornamentation, and by a terminal straight and cylindrical "tube", formed by contiguous, rounded osteoderms, separated by deep grooves with large perforations, similar to those of the carapace. The terminal and lateral osteoderms were almost identical to each other.
Classification
The genus Palaehoplophorus was first described in 1883 by Florentino Ameghino, based on fossil remains found in Argentina in Middle Miocene terrains. Several species have been attributed to the genus, such as Palaehoplophorus antiquus, P. disjunctus, P. meridionalis, P. pressulus, P. scalabrinii, from the Middle to the Late Miocene. Several of these species may be synonymous with each other.
Palaehoplophorus was identified as an archaic representative of the glyptodonts, notably due to the morphology of its caudal tube, with barely differentiated osteoderms, a characteristic generally considered primitive. The ornamentation of the osteoderms was however rather derived, which tends to confirm that this genus wasn't nested in a basal position of the group. Palaehoplophorus was a member of the tribe Hoplophorini, along with its relatives Hoplophorus and Plohophorus.
Modern cladistic analysis suggests that Palaehoplophorus is more closely related to other glyptodonts with caudal tubes like Doedicurus than to Glyptodon. Cladogram after Barasoain et al. 2022[1]:
F. Ameghino. 1883. Sobre una nueva colección de mamíferos fósiles recogidos por el Profesor Scalabrini en Las Barrancas del Paraña [On a collection of fossil mammals collected by Professor Scalabrini in Las Barrancas of Paraña]. Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias 5(3):55-104
F. Ameghino. 1885. Nuevos restos de mamíferos fósiles Oligocenos recogidos por el Profesor Pedro Scalabrini y pertenecientes al Museo Provincial de la ciudad del Parana [New remains of Oligocene fossil mammals collected by Professor Pedro Scalabrini and belonging to the Provincial Museum of the city of Parana]. Boletín de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias 8:1-205
F. Ameghino. 1889. Contribución al conocimiento de los mamíferos fósiles de la República Argentina [Contribution to the knowledge of the fossil mammals of the Argentine Republic]. Actas de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de la República Argentina en Córdoba 6:xxxii-1027
F. Ameghino. 1904. Nuevas especies de mamíferos, cretáceos y terciarios de la República Argentina [New species of mammals, Cretaceous and Tertiarty, from the Argentine Republic]. Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina 56–58:1-142
G. J. Scillato-Yané, F. Góis, A. E. Zurita, A. A. Carlini, L. R. González-Ruiz, C. M. Krmpotic, C. Oliva and M. Zamorano. 2013. Los cingulata (Mammalia, Xenarthra) del "Conglomerado Osífero" (Mioceno tardío) de la Formación Ituzaingó de Entre Ríos, Argentina. In D. Brandoni, J.I. Noriega (eds.), El Neógeno de la Mesopotamia argentina 14:118-134
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.
Hoplophorus is an extinct genus of glyptodont, a subfamily of armadillos. The only confidently known species was H. euphractus, found in Pleistocene deposits in Brazil, though fossils possibly from another species are known from Bolivia.
Propalaehoplophorus, also written as Propalaeohoplophorus, is an extinct genus of glyptodont, which lived in South America during the Early Miocene epoch.
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.
Lomaphorus is a possibly dubious extinct genus of glyptodont that lived during the Pleistocene in eastern Argentina. Although many species have been referred, the genus itself is possibly dubious or synonymous with other glyptodonts like Neoslerocalyptus from the same region.
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.
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.
Eucinepeltus is an extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived during the Early Miocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Glyptatelus is an extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived from the Late Eocene to the Middle Oligocene in what is now Argentina and Bolivia.
Protoglyptodon is an extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived during the Late Miocene, and its fossilized remains were found in South America.
Plohophorus is an extinct genus of glyptodont. it lived from the Late Miocene to the Late Pliocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Phlyctaenopyga is an extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Neuryurus is an extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived from the Late Pliocene to the Early Holocene, 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.
Asterostemma is an extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived during the Middle Miocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Cochlops is an extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived from the Early to Middle Miocene, and its fossilized remains have been found in South America.
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.
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.
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.
