''Cochlops'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

glyptodont Glyptodonts are an extinct clade of large, heavily armoured armadillos, reaching up to in height, and maximum body masses of around 2 tonnes. They had short, deep skulls, a fused vertebral column, and a large bony carapace made up of hundreds o ...

. It lived from the Early to Middle

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), 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 mea ...

, and its fossilized remains have been found in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Description

This animal, like all glyptodonts, had an armor formed by 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 amph ...

s fused together, protecting most of its body. Its skull was characterized by a shortened rostrum, a facial profile strongly inclined towards the front, and the occipital plane was oblique. The shape of its skull prefigured that of later genera such as '' Panochthus''. Its carapace was characterized by particularly wrinkled osteoderms, especially compared to other forms of archaic glyptodonts, such as '' Asterostemma'' and '' Propalaehoplophorus'' ; some osteoderms, especially in the pelvic area, had a particular ornamentation, with a large central conical tubercle surrounded by smaller wrinkled tubercles.

Classification

The genus ''Cochlops'' was first described in 1889 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, especial ...

, based on fossil remains found in Early

terrains of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The type species is ''Cochlops muricatus'', and the species ''C. debilis'', described in 1891 by Ameghin, is also ascribed to the genus. The genus ''Metopotoxus'' was later synonymized with the genus ''Cochlops''. ''Cochlops'' was a basal glyptodont, belonging to the tribe Propalaehoplophorini, and related to the genera '' Propalaehoplophorus'', '' Asterostemma'' and '' Eucinepeltus''. Modern cladistic analysis suggests that Propalaehoplophorini is a paraphyletic group. Cladogram after Barasoain et al. 2022:

Bibliography

*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. 1891. Nuevos restos de mamíferos fósiles descubiertos por Carlos Ameghino en el Eoceno inferior de la Patagonia austral. – Especies nuevas, adiciones y correcciones ew remains of fossil mammals discovered by Carlos Ameghino in the lower Eocene of southern Patagonia. – New species, additions, and corrections Revista Argentina de Historia Natural 1:289-328 *S. F. Vizcaíno, J. C. Fernicola, and M. S. Bargo. 2012. Paleobiology of Santacrucian glyptodonts and armadillos (Xenarthra, Cingulata). In S. F. Vizcaíno, R. F. Kay, M. S. Bargo (eds.), Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation 194–215

References

{{Reflist Prehistoric cingulates Prehistoric placental genera Miocene xenarthrans Miocene genus first appearances Miocene mammals of South America Miocene genus extinctions Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Fossil taxa described in 1889 Golfo San Jorge Basin Sarmiento Formation