''Dasypus bellus'', the beautiful armadillo,
/ref> is an extinct

armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, alo ...

species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

, living from 1.8 mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately . Slightly larger than its living relative, the

nine-banded armadillo The nine-banded armadillo (''Dasypus novemcinctus''), also known as the nine-banded long-nosed armadillo or common long-nosed armadillo, is a mammal found in North, Central, and South America, making it the most widespread of the armadillos. ...

, its fossils are known from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

and records extend west to

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

and north to

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

Description

''D. bellus'' had small, simple, peg-like teeth similar to ''D. novemcinctus.'' Its maximum length was approximately long, twice the size of the nine-banded armadillo. The osteoderms of the shell and the limb bones of ''D. bellus'' are about two to two and a half times the extent of those of the living modern nine-banded armadillo ''D. novemcinctus''. The small ''D. bellus'' overlapped in size with the ''D. novemcinctus''. The body size of ''D. bellus'' decreased during the late Pleistocene, suggesting that its body size was variable.

Relations

DNA

DNA testing of two ''D. bellus'' fossils and modern

armadillos Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along ...

has proved the species is not genetically the same. However, one of the ''D. bellus'' fossils proved to be a specimen of ''D. novemcinctus''. The mistake was due to the high morphological similarities between the two species. It also proved that ''D. novemcinctus'' was in Florida much earlier than previously thought.

Fossils

Earliest fossils are found in early Pleistocene South America, and would emigrate into southern North America. They have been found at many sites in

, including caves,

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s, river sites, coastal, and lake deposits. By the late Pleistocene, ''D. bellus'' spread into the American Southwest. The living animals apparently preferred dry scrub environments. The most frequent type of fossil found are isolated

osteoderm Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinct amp ...

s. The most common types of osteoderms that have been found are the hexagonal elements, which include most of osteoderms covering the shoulder or pectoral regions. Other types of osteoderms include those covering the pelvic region of the

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

or the so-called buckler or immovable osteoderms and the elongate rectangular elements from the movable bands, the imbricating or movable osteoderms.

Modern descendants

The beautiful armadillo likely shares a common lineage with numerous species of large armadillos from the Pleistocene of South America. This includes ''Propraopus sulcatus'' and ''Propraopus grandis.'' '' D. kappleri'', the great long-nosed armadillo, which is the largest living species of ''Dasypus'' from tropical South America, has the same features of osteoderms as ''D. bellus''. They also share a large, unreduced fifth digit on the manus. The range of ''D. novemcinctus'', the smaller nine-banded armadillo, has expanded out of Mexico and into much of the former range of ''Dasypus bellus.'' The two species are morphologically similar to each other. This had led many to believe that they might be a single, highly adaptable species that has gone through a course of phenotypical changes along with geographical range fluctuations causing from environmental changes. However, as previously stated, DNA research has proved ''D. bellus'' and ''D. novemcinctus'' to be separate species.

References

External links

The beautiful armadillo

Dasypus bellus: Florida Museum of Natural History

{{Taxonbar, from=Q902492 Armadillos Prehistoric cingulates Pliocene xenarthrans Pleistocene xenarthrans Piacenzian first appearances Pleistocene species extinctions Prehistoric mammals of North America Irvingtonian Rancholabrean Fossils of the United States Fossil taxa described in 1930 Taxa named by George Gaylord Simpson