Tolypeutinae is a subfamily of
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, along wi ...
s in the family
Chlamyphoridae
Chlamyphoridae is a family of cingulate mammals. While glyptodonts have traditionally been considered stem-group cingulates outside the group that contains modern armadillos, there had been speculation that the extant family Dasypodidae could b ...
, consisting of the
giant
In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...
,
three-banded and
naked-tailed armadillos.
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Taxonomy
It contains the following genera:
*''
Cabassous
''Cabassous'' is a genus of South and Central American armadillos. The name is the Latinised form of the Kalini word for "armadillo".
Cladogram of living ''Cabassous''
The genus contains the following four species
In biology, a species ...
''
*''
Kuntinaru''
*''
Priodontes''
*''
Tolypeutes
The genus ''Tolypeutes'' contains the two species of three-banded armadillos. They are restricted to open and semi-open habitats in South America.
Of the several armadillo genera, only ''Tolypeutes'' rely heavily on their armor for protection. W ...
''
*''
Vetelia''
Phylogeny
Tolypeutinae is the
sister group
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and t ...
of
Chlamyphorinae, the fairy armadillos, as shown below.
References
Armadillos
Extant Chattian first appearances
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