''Proeuphractus'' 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 ...

of xenarthran, related to the modern

armadillo Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...

s. It lived from the Early to the Late

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 were discovered 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 was quite similar to the modern six-banded armadillo, but it was probably larger than the giant armadillo. ''Proeuphractus'' had a carapace similar to that of modern armadillos, with complete mobile bands of osteoderms, allowing the animal to at least partially roll up. The dermal osteoderms were robust and had the same basic ornamentation, except along the carapace axis, where the osteoderms presented a torsion of the central figure towards the postero-external corner, and were devoid of central follicle. Hair dimples could however be observed along the lateral margins and the posterior border.

Classification

The genus ''Proeuphractus'' was first described in 1886 by Florentino Ameghino, based on fossil remains found in

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 ...

in Late Miocene terrains. The type species is ''Proeuphractus limpidus'', whose fossils have also been found in

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. Several other species were later attributed to the genus, such as ''Proeuphractus laevis'', ''P. limus'', ''P. nanus'', ''P. recens'' and ''P. setiger'', the latter being the most ancient species, from the Early Miocene. ''Proeuphractus'' was initially considered a member of the subfamily Euphractinae, close to the origin of the extant genus '' Euphractus'' (hence the genus name ''Proeuphractus''), but more recent studies tends to indicate that it was nested at the basis of the subfamily Euphractinae, along with its relative '' Macroeuphractus''.

Bibliography

*F. Ameghino. 1897. Mammiféres crétacés de l’Argentine (Deuxième contribution à la connaissance de la fauna mammalogique de couches à Pyrotherium) retaceous mammals of Argentina (second contribution to the knowledge of the mammalian fauna of the Pyrotherium Beds) Boletin Instituto Geografico Argentino 18(4–9):406-521 *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 *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 *^ Kieren J. Mitchell; Agustin Scanferla; Esteban Soibelzon; Ricardo Bonini; Javier Ochoa; Alan Cooper (2016). "Ancient DNA from the extinct South American giant glyptodont Doedicurus sp. (Xenarthra: Glyptodontidae) reveals that glyptodonts evolved from Eocene armadillos". Molecular Ecology. 25 (14): 3499–3508. {{Taxonbar, from=Q63522093 Prehistoric cingulates Prehistoric placental genera Miocene xenarthrans Miocene genus first appearances Miocene mammals of South America Miocene genus extinctions Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Fossils of Uruguay Neogene Uruguay Fossil taxa described in 1886 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino