Chlamyphorus truncatus - Naturmuseum Senckenberg - DSC02081

Chlamyphoridae is a family of cingulate mammals. While

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 ...

s have traditionally been considered stem-group cingulates outside the group that contains 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, there had been speculation that the extant family Dasypodidae could be

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

based on morphological evidence. In 2016, an analysis of '' Doedicurus''

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...

found it was, in fact, nested within the modern armadillos as 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 ...

of a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

consisting of

Chlamyphorinae Chlamyphorinae is a subfamily of South American armadillos in the family Chlamyphoridae. Members of this subfamily, the fairy armadillos, are largely fossorial and have reduced eyes and robust forearms with large claws for digging. __TOC__ Tax ...

and

Tolypeutinae Tolypeutinae is a subfamily of armadillos in the family Chlamyphoridae, consisting of the giant, three-banded and naked-tailed armadillos. __TOC__ Taxonomy It contains the following genera: *'' Cabassous'' *'' Kuntinaru'' *'' Priodontes'' *' ...

. For this reason, all extant armadillos but ''

Dasypus ''Dasypus'' is the only extant genus in the family Dasypodidae. Its species are known as long-nosed or naked-tailed armadillos. They are found in South America, South, Central America, Central, and North America, as well as on the Caribbean islan ...

'' were relocated to a new family. The scientific name comes from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

(), "cloak", and (), "bearing". __TOC__

Classification

Below is a taxonomy of the extant species of armadillos in this family. Family Chlamyphoridae * Subfamily

** Genus '' Calyptophractus'' *** Greater fairy armadillo, ''Calyptophractus retusus'' ** Genus '' Chlamyphorus'' ***

Pink fairy armadillo The pink fairy armadillo (''Chlamyphorus truncatus'') is the smallest species of armadillo, first described by Richard Harlan in 1825. The pink fairy armadillo is long, and typically weighs about . This solitary, desert-adapted animal is ende ...

, ''Chlamyphorus truncatus'' * Subfamily

Euphractinae Euphractinae is an armadillo subfamily in the family Chlamyphoridae. Euphractinae are known for having a well developed osteoderm that has large cavities filled with adipose tissue, and more hair follicles with well developed sebaceous glands ...

** Genus '' Euphractus'' *** Six-banded armadillo, ''Euphractus sexcinctus'' ** Genus '' Zaedyus'' *** Pichi, ''Zaedyus pichiy'' ** Genus '' Chaetophractus'' ***

Screaming hairy armadillo The screaming hairy armadillo (''Chaetophractus vellerosus'') is a species of armadillo also known as the small screaming armadillo, crying armadillo or the small hairy armadillo. It is a burrowing armadillo found in the central and southern part ...

, ''Chaetophractus vellerosus'' *** Big hairy armadillo, ''Chaetophractus villosus'' *** Andean hairy armadillo, ''Chaetophractus nationi'' * Subfamily

** Genus ''

Cabassous ''Cabassous'' is a genus of South and Central American armadillos. The name is the Latinised form of the Carib language, Kalini word for "armadillo". Cladogram of living ''Cabassous'' The genus contains the following four species: Reference ...

'' *** Greater naked-tailed armadillo, ''Cabassous tatouay'' *** Chacoan naked-tailed armadillo, ''Cabassous chacoensis'' *** Northern naked-tailed armadillo, ''Cabassous centralis'' ***

Southern naked-tailed armadillo The southern naked-tailed armadillo (''Cabassous unicinctus'') is a species of small armadillo from South America. Description Smaller than some other armadillos, males measure an average of in head-body length, and weigh around , while females ...

, ''Cabassous unicinctus'' ** Genus ''

Priodontes The giant armadillo (''Priodontes maximus''), colloquially ''tatu-canastra'', ''tatou'', ''ocarro'' or ''tatú carreta'', is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the glyptodonts, were much larger). It live ...

'' ***

Giant armadillo The giant armadillo (''Priodontes maximus''), colloquially ''tatu-canastra'', ''tatou'', ''ocarro'' or ''tatú carreta'', is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the Glyptodontidae, glyptodonts, were much l ...

, ''Priodontes maximus'' ** Genus ''

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 ...

'' *** Southern three-banded armadillo, ''Tolypeutes matacus'' *** Brazilian three-banded armadillo, ''Tolypeutes tricinctus''

Phylogeny

Chlamyphoridae, like Dasypodidae, is a basal clade within Cingulata, as shown below.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q22924208 Cingulata Xenarthra Mammal families