''Plohophorus'' 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 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 ...

to the Late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58South 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

Like all glyptodonts, this animal had a large carapace formed by numerous osteoderms fused together, covering most of its body. ''Plohophorus'' shared similarities with another Miocene glyptodont, ''

Phlyctaenopyga ''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. Description Like all glyptodonts, this animal had a robust carapace, forme ...

'', especially in its rather broad and low skull. The ornamentation of the caudal tube, protecting the tail, was more simplified ; the peripheral figures were partially regressed and marked in the distal part ; the central oval-shaped figures were contiguous to each other and only left space for small triangular areas between each other.

Classification

The genus ''Plohophorus'' was first described in 1887 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 Upper Miocene terrains of

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 ...

. The type species is ''Plohophorus figuratus'' ; several other species from the Late Miocene and the Early Pliocene were also attributed to the genus, such as ''Plohophorus paranensis'', ''P. sygmaturus'', ''P. cuneiformis'', ''P. coronatus'', ''P. ameghini'', ''P. araucanus'', ''P. australis'' and ''P. orientalis''. According to the most recent revision of the genus, however, only the four first species are still considered valid.A. Castellanos. 1940. A propósito de los géneros Plohophorus, Nopachthus y Panochthus. Publicaciones del Instituto de Fisiografía y Geología 1: 1–279. In 2011, a species from the Late Pliocene of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, ''P. barrancalobensis'', was described. ''Plohophorus'' was a rather derived glyptodont, representative of the tribe Doedicurini. Its name is an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of ''

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. ...

'', a similar but more recent genus.

References and Bibliography

*F. Ameghino. 1887. Apuntes preliminares sobre algunos mamíferos fósiles nuevos de la República Argentina. P.E. Coni, Buenos Aires, 17 p. *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 *R. Lydekker. 1894. Contributions to a knowledge of the Fossil Vertebrates of Argentina. Part II. 2. The extinct edentates of Argentina. Anales del Museo de La Plata. Paleontología Argentina 3:1-118 *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 *A. L. Cione, M. M. Azpelicueta, M. Bond, A. A. Carlini, J. R. Casciotta, M. A. Cozzuol, M. Fuente, Z. Gasparini, F. J. Goin, J. Noriega, G. J. Scillato-Yane, *L. Soibelzon, E. P. Tonni, D. Verzi, and M. G. Vucetich. 2000. Miocene vertebrates from Entre Rios province, eastern Argentina. Serie Correlacion Geologica 14:191-237 *M. A. Cozzuol. 2006. The Acre vertebrate fauna: Age, diversity, and geography. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 21:185-203 *M. Zamorano and G. J. Scillato-Yané. 2011. Nueva y Más Reciente Especie de Plohophorus Ameghino (Xenarthra, Glyptodontidae) del Marplatense Inferior (Barrancalobense, Plioceno Tardío), de Barranca de los Lobos (Provincia de Buenos Aires). Ameghiniana 48(3):399-404. *R. L. Tomassini, C. I. Montalvo, C.M. Deschamps and T. Manera. 2013. Biostratigraphy and biochronology of the Monte Hermoso Formation (early Pliocene) at its type locality, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 48:31-42 {{Taxonbar, from=Q60977593 Prehistoric cingulates Prehistoric placental genera Miocene xenarthrans Miocene mammals of South America Miocene first appearances Pliocene xenarthrans Pliocene mammals of South America Pliocene genus extinctions Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Fossil taxa described in 1887 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino Ituzaingó Formation