''Palaehoplophorus'' (also spelled, historically, ''Palaeohoplophorus'') is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

glyptodont Glyptodonts are an extinct subfamily of large, heavily armoured armadillos. They arose in South America around 48 million years ago and spread to southern North America after the continents became connected several million years ago. The best-kn ...

. It lived from the Middle to the Late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

, and its fossilized remains were discovered in

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 southe ...

Description

This animal, like all glyptodonts, had a thick carapace, composed of numerous

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 ...

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 Florentino Ameghino (born Giovanni Battista Fiorino Giuseppe Ameghino September 19, 1853 – August 6, 1911) was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist, whose fossil discoveries on the Argentine Pampas, especially ...

, based on fossil remains found in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

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 ''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. ...

'' and ''

Plohophorus ''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. Description Like all glyptodonts, this animal had a large carapace formed by n ...

''.

Bibliography

*F. Ameghino. 1883. Sobre una nueva colección de mamíferos fósiles recogidos por el Profesor Scalabrini en Las Barrancas del Paraña n 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 ew 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 ontribution 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 ew 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 {{Taxonbar, from=Q23667491 Armadillos Prehistoric placental genera Prehistoric cingulates Miocene genus first appearances Miocene mammals of South America Miocene xenarthrans Miocene genus extinctions Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Neogene Chile Fossils of Chile Fossil taxa described in 1883 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino Ituzaingó Formation