''Comaphorus'' is a

dubious Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty ...

extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

glyptodont Glyptodonts are an extinct subfamily of large, heavily armoured armadillos. They arose in South America around 48 million years ago and spread to southern North America after the continents became connected several million years ago. The best-k ...

. It lived during the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

, but only one fossil has ever been referred to the animal.

Description

This genus is only known from only a single dorsal carapace osteoderm that has since been lost. Like all glyptodonts, it probably had a large dorsal carapace made of fused osteoderms. Ameghino diagnosed the taxon based on very general characteristics, such as the dorsal surface being raised in the center, bearing twenty perforations lost in the thickness of the osteoderm that didn’t lead to similar perforations present on the internal surface. These characters are very vague and due to the holotype being missing, the taxon is still a

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...

. Based on its phylogenetic position in Doedicurinae, ''Comaphorus'' likely was one of the larger known Glyptodonts with a robust, fused tail sheath.

History and classification

''Comaphorus concisus'' was first described in 1886 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, especiall ...

, based on a single dorsal carapace osteoderm that had been collected from the

Upper Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The ...

strata of the Ituzaingo Formation in Entre Rios Province,

.Scillato, G. J. (2013). Los Cingulata (Mammalia, Xenarthra) del “Conglomerado Osífero”(Mioceno tardío) de la Formación Ituzaingó de Entre Ríos, Argentina. ''Publicación Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina'', ''14''(1).Ameghino, F. (1886). ''Contribuciones al conocimiento de los mamíferos fósiles de los terrenos terciarios antiguos del Paraná'' (Vol. 9). PE Coni. Ameghino believed that the genus was closely related to the Pleistocene genus ''

Doedicurus ''Doedicurus'', or ''Dædicurus'', is an extinct genus of glyptodont from South America containing one species, ''D. clavicaudatus''. Glyptodonts are a member of the family Chlamyphoridae, which also includes some modern armadillo species, and ...

'' and '' Plaxhaplous,'' two genera that have since been classified in the tribe Doedicurini along with '' Eleutherocercus.'' However, the type osteoderm has since been lost and the diagnostic features used by Ameghino have been observed in several other glyptodonts and are not specific, making this taxon a ''

''. Despite this, the osteoderm’s features still indicate that it was a close relative of ''Doedicurus'' and other doedicurines.Carlini, A. A., Zurita, A. E., & Miño-Boilini, A. R. (2008). Reseña paleobiogeográfica de los Xenarthra (Mammalia) del Pleistoceno tardío de la región Mesopotámica (Argentina). ''INSUGEO (Miscelánea)'', ''17''(2), 259–270.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q60977616 Prehistoric cingulates Prehistoric placental genera Miocene xenarthrans Miocene first appearances Miocene mammals of South America Miocene extinctions Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Nomina dubia Fossil taxa described in 1886