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Dasypus neogaeus
Temporal range: Late Miocene (Huayquerian)
~9–6.8 Ma
↓
Scientific classification Edit this 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]

History and classification[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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]

Paleoenvironment[edit]

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]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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).
  2. ^ a b c d Ameghino, F. (1891). Caracteres diagnósticos de cincuenta especies nuevas de mamíferos fósiles argentinos. Revista Argentina de Historia Natural, 1(3), 129–167.
  3. ^ Cordeiro de Castro, M. (2015). Sistemática y evolución de los armadillos Dasypodini (Xenarthra, Cingulata, Dasypodidae). Revista del Museo de La Plata| Sección Paleontología, 15.
  4. ^ a b Ercoli, Marcos D.; Álvarez, Alicia; Santamans, Carla; González Patagua, Sonia A.; Villalba Ulberich, Juan Pablo; Constantini, Ornela E. (2019-08-01). "Los Alisos, a new fossiliferous locality for Guanaco Formation (late Miocene) in Jujuy (Argentina), and a first approach of its paleoecological and biochronology implications". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 93: 203–213. Bibcode:2019JSAES..93..203E. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2019.04.024. hdl:11336/121466. ISSN 0895-9811. S2CID 155281728.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Abba, A. M.; Zufiaurre, E.; Codesido, M.; Bilenca, D. N. (2015-02-01). "Burrowing activity by armadillos in agroecosystems of central Argentina: Biogeography, land use, and rainfall effects". Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 200: 54–61. Bibcode:2015AgEE..200...54A. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2014.11.001. ISSN 0167-8809.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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).
  9. ^ 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).
  10. ^ Góis, Flávio; Scillato-Yané, Gustavo Juan; Carlini, Alfredo Armando; Guilherme, Edson (2013-06-01). "A new species of Scirrotherium Edmund & Theodor, 1997 (Xenarthra, Cingulata, Pampatheriidae) from the late Miocene of South America". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 37 (2): 177–188. Bibcode:2013Alch...37..177G. doi:10.1080/03115518.2013.733510. hdl:11336/18791. ISSN 0311-5518. S2CID 129039539.
  11. ^ Alvarenga, Herculano M. F.; Höfling, Elizabeth (2003). "Systematic revision of the Phorusrhacidae (Aves: Ralliformes)". Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia. 43 (4): 55–91. doi:10.1590/S0031-10492003000400001. ISSN 0031-1049.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ 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.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasypus_neogaeus