''Eucinepeltus'' (also often called, historically, ''Encinepeltus'') 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 ...

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 ...

. It lived during the Early

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

Like all glyptodonts, this genus was characterized by its dorsal armor composed of numerous osteoderms fused together. ''Eucinepeltus'' was larger than other basal glyptodonts such as '' Propalaehoplophorus'', with a skull reaching 20 centimeters in length, and wider than most of its relative species. The cephalic shield was composed of 11-15 large welded bony plates, presenting a central convexity often perforated. The skull was depressed and presented a rather elongated muzzle. The dental characteristics of ''Eucinepeltus'' includes lower molars increasing in size from the first to the fifth molar ; a first and second lower molars elliptical, convex in the internal side and with a large notch and a corresponding perpendicular groove in the back ; bilobed third and fourth lower molars, with an anterior internal lobe much smaller than the following one ; the remaining molars were trilobed.

Classification

The genus ''Eucinepeltus'' was first described in 1891 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 fossilized remains found in Early Miocene terrains from

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 ...

. The type species is ''Eucinepeltus petesatus'', and the later described species ''E. complicatus'' may belong to the genus, although its real affinities are unclear. ''Eucinepeltus'' is the largest genus belonging to the Propalaehoplophorini, a tribe of basal glyptodonts, typical of the Early Miocene, and also including the genera '' Propalaehoplophorus'', ''

Parapropalaehoplophorus ''Parapropalaehoplophorus'' is an Extinction, extinct genus of comparatively small (compared to ''Glyptodon'') species of glyptodont, extinct relatives of the modern armadillo. The sole species, ''P. septentrionalis'', identified in 2007 from the ...

'' and '' Asterostemma''. Modern cladistic analysis suggests that Propalaehoplophorini is a paraphyletic group. Cladogram after Barasoain et al. 2022:

Bibliography

*F. Ameghino. 1891. Nuevos restos de mamíferos fósiles descubiertos por Carlos Ameghino en el Eoceno inferior de la Patagonia austral. – Especies nuevas, adiciones y correcciones ew remains of fossil mammals discovered by Carlos Ameghino in the lower Eocene of southern Patagonia. – New species, additions, and corrections Revista Argentina de Historia Natural 1:289-328 *F. Ameghino. 1894. Enumeration synoptique des especes de mammifères fossiles des formations éocènes de Patagonie. Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias en Cordoba (Republica Argentina) 13:259-452 *S. F. Vizcaíno, J. C. Fernicola, and M. S. Bargo. 2012. Paleobiology of Santacrucian glyptodonts and armadillos (Xenarthra, Cingulata). In S. F. Vizcaíno, R. F. Kay, M. S. Bargo (eds.), Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation 194-215

References

{{Reflist Armadillos Prehistoric placental genera Prehistoric cingulates Miocene xenarthrans Miocene genus first appearances Miocene genus extinctions Miocene mammals of South America Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Neogene Chile Fossils of Chile Fossil taxa described in 1891