''Astegotherium'' 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, belonging to the family

Dasypodidae Dasypodidae, from Ancient Greek δασύς (''dasús''), meaning "hair", and πούς (''poús''), meaning "foot", is a family of mostly extinct genera of armadillos. One genus, ''Dasypus'', is extant, with at least seven living species. __TO ...

. It lived from the Early to the Middle

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

, and its fossilized remains are 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 ...

Description

This genus is only known from the dermal plates (

osteoderms Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of Extant taxon, extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, Temnospondyli, ...

) that composed its dorsal armor. It was probably fairly similar with the modern

nine-banded armadillo The nine-banded armadillo (''Dasypus novemcinctus''), also called the nine-banded long-nosed armadillo or common long-nosed armadillo, is a species of armadillo native to North America, North, Central America, Central, and South America, making ...

. ''Astegotherium'' was characterized by its osteoderms with a central figure almost devoid of foramina, while the posterior part of the osteoderms has hair foramina.

Classification

The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, ''Astegotherium dichotomus'', was first described in 1902 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

, dating to the Middle Eocene. Other fossils attributed to this genus were later discovered in Argentina, in terrains dating from the Early to the Middle-Late Eocene. ''Astegotherium'' is one of the earliest armadillo known in the fossil records, and it is considered a member of the family

, which includes the modern nine-banded armadillo.

Bibliography

*Tejedor, M.F., Goin, F.J., Gelfo, J.N., López, G.M., Bond, M., Carlini, A.A, Scillato-Yané, G.J., Woodburne, M.O., Chornogubsky, L., Aragón, E., Reguero, M.A., Czaplewski, N.J., Vincon, S., Martin, G.M., and Ciancio, M. 2009. New early Eocene mammalian fauna from Western Patagonia, Argentina. American Museum Novitates 3638: 1–43. *Ciancio, M.R., Herrera, C., Aramayo, A., Payrola, P., and Babot, J. 2016. Diversity of cingulate xenarthrans in the middle–late Eocene of Northwestern Argentina. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 61 (3): 575–590. {{Taxonbar, from=Q110448377 Armadillos Prehistoric cingulates Prehistoric placental genera Eocene xenarthrans Eocene genus first appearances Eocene mammals of South America Eocene genus extinctions Paleogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Fossil taxa described in 1902 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino Golfo San Jorge Basin Sarmiento Formation