Peltephilus

Last updated

Peltephilus
Temporal range: Oligocene-Mid Miocene (Deseadan-Mayoan)
~29.0–11.6  Ma
Peltephilus ferox.JPG
Interpretation of P. ferox
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cingulata
Family: Peltephilidae
Genus: Peltephilus
Ameghino 1887
Type species
Peltephilus ferox
Ameghino 1887
Species
  • P. depressusAmeghino 1897
  • P. feroxAmeghino 1891 (type)
  • P. giganteusAmeghino 1894
  • P. granosusAmeghino 1902
  • P. protervusAmeghino 1897
  • P. pumilusAmeghino 1887
  • P. strepensAmeghino 1887
  • P. undulatusAmeghino 1897
Skull of P. ferox Peltephilus ferox skull.jpg
Skull of P. ferox

Peltephilus, the horned armadillo, is an extinct genus of armadillo xenarthran mammals that first inhabited Argentina during the Oligocene epoch, and became extinct in the Miocene epoch. Notably, the scutes on its head were so developed that they formed horns. Aside from the horned gophers of North America, it is the only known fossorial horned mammal. [1] P. ferox had skull about 11.7 centimetres (4.6 in), [2] and estimated body mass is around 11.07 kilograms (24.4 lb). [3]

Contents

Although it had traditionally been perceived as a carnivore because of its large, triangular-shaped teeth, Vizcaino and Farina argued in 1997 that Peltephilus was a herbivore. [4]

Taxonomy

The genus was originally classified as belonging to the family Chlamyphoridae, but in 2007 was placed in its own family Peltephilidae by Darin A. Croft, John J. Flynn and Andre Wyss. [5]

Distribution

Fossils of Peltephilus have been found in: [6]

Deseadan
Miocene

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sparassodonta</span> Extinct order of mammals

Sparassodonta is an extinct order of carnivorous metatherian mammals native to South America, related to modern marsupials. They were once considered to be true marsupials, but are now thought to be a separate side branch that split before the last common ancestor of all modern marsupials.

<i>Hapalops</i> Extinct genus of ground sloths

Hapalops is an extinct genus of ground sloth from the Early to Late Miocene of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Argentina in South America.

<i>Theosodon</i> Extinct genus of litopterns

Theosodon is an extinct genus of litoptern mammal from the Early to Middle Miocene of South America.

<i>Protypotherium</i> Extinct genus of notoungulates

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.

Parapropalaehoplophorus septentrionalis was a comparatively small species of glyptodont, extinct relatives of the modern armadillo. The mammal, identified in 2007 from the fossilized remains of a specimen found in 2004, weighed approximately 200 pounds and had a shell covered by tiny circular bumps. It lumbered around northern Chile in the Chucal Formation, an area now dominated by the Andes mountain range, some 18 million years ago. Fossils of the glyptodont also have been found in Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesotheriidae</span> Extinct family of mammals

Mesotheriidae is an extinct family of notoungulate mammals known from the Oligocene through the Pleistocene of South America. Mesotheriids were small to medium-sized herbivorous mammals adapted for digging.

The Deseadan age is a period of geologic time within the Oligocene epoch of the Paleogene to the Early Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification of South America. It follows the Tinguirirican and precedes the Colhuehuapian age.

The Santacrucian age is a period of geologic time within the Early Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically with SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Colhuehuapian and precedes the Friasian age.

The Colloncuran age is a period of geologic time within the Middle Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Friasian and precedes the Laventan age.

<i>Stegotherium</i> Extinct genus of mammals in the armadillo order of xenarthrans

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.

Cura-Mallín Group is a heterogeneous group of volcano-sedimentary formations of Oligocene-Miocene age, Colhuehuapian to Laventan in the SALMA classification, in south-central Chile and nearby parts of Argentina. The sediments belonging to the group were deposited in a lacustrine environment and alongside rivers in an intra-arc basin. Southeast of Laguna del Laja Cura-Mallín Group has a thickness of more than 1,800 metres (5,900 ft). The sediments making up the group deposited in an interval between 22 and 8 million years ago.

<i>Macroeuphractus</i> An extinct genus of mammals belonging to the armadillo order of xenarthrans

Macroeuphractus is a genus of extinct armadillos from the Late Miocene to Late Pliocene of South America. The genus is noted for its large size, with Macroeuphractus outesi being the largest non-pampathere or glyptodont armadillo discovered, as well as its specializations for carnivory, unique among all xenarthrans.

<i>Hegetotherium</i> Extinct genus of notoungulates

Hegetotherium is an extinct genus of mammals from the Early to Middle Miocene of South America. Fossils of this genus have been found in the Cerro Bandera, Cerro Boleadoras, Chichinales, Collón Curá, Santa Cruz and Sarmiento Formations of Argentina, the Nazareno Formation of Bolivia, and the Galera and Río Frías Formations of Chile.

The Agua de la Piedra Formation is a Late Oligocene geologic formation of the Malargüe Group that crops out in the southernmost Precordillera and northernmost Neuquén Basin in southern Mendoza Province, Argentina.

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.

Ronwolffia is an extinct genus of horned armadillo (Peltephilidae), distantly related to the modern species of armadillos and to the extinct glyptodonts. It lived during the Oligocene in what is now the Salla Formation in Bolivia.

Eucinepeltus is an extinct genus of glyptodont. It lived during the Early Miocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.

<i>Cochlops</i> An extinct genus of mammals belonging to the armadillo order of xenarthrans

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Cruz Formation</span> Geological formation in Patagonia

The Santa Cruz Formation is a geological formation in the Magallanes/Austral Basin in southern Patagonia in Argentina and adjacent areas of Chile. It dates to the late Early Miocene epoch, and is contemporaneous with the eponymous Santacrucian age of the SALMA timescale. The Santa Cruz Formation is known for its abundance of vertebrate fossils, including South American native ungulates, as well as rodents, xenarthrans, and metatherians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peltephilidae</span> Family of South American cingulates (armadillos)

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.

References

  1. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. pp. 208–209. ISBN   1-84028-152-9.
  2. Vlachos, Evangelos (2018). "A Review of the Fossil Record of North American Turtles of the Clade Pan-Testudinoidea". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 59 (1): 3–94. doi:10.3374/014.058.0201. ISSN   0079-032X.
  3. Vizcaíno, Sergio F.; Fernicola, Juan C.; Bargo, M. Susana (2012), Bargo, M. Susana; Kay, Richard F.; Vizcaíno, Sergio F. (eds.), "Paleobiology of Santacrucian glyptodonts and armadillos (Xenarthra, Cingulata)", Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 194–215, doi:10.1017/cbo9780511667381.013, ISBN   978-0-521-19461-7 , retrieved 2023-05-22
  4. Vizcaino, S. F., & R. A. Farina (1997), Diet and locomotion of the armadillo Peltephilus: a new view. Lethaia, 30, 79-86.
  5. 1 2 Croft et al., 2007
  6. Peltephilus at Fossilworks.org
  7. Shockey, 2017
  8. González Ruiz et al., 2013, p. 323

Bibliography