A NEW SPECIES OF NEOGLYPTATELUS (MAMMALIA, XENARTHRA, CINGULATA) FROM THE LATE MIOCENE OF URUGUAY PROVIDES NEW 3 INSIGHTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE DORSAL ARMOR IN CINGULATES

FERNICOLA, J. C.; RINDERKNECHT, A.; JONES, W.; VIZCAÍNO, S. F.; PORPINO DE OLIVERA, K.

AMEGHINIANA

ASOCIACION PALEONTOLOGICA ARGENTINA

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2017

0002-7014

The genus Neoglyptatelus has been considered a 26 member ofGlyptatelinae, a group encompassing the purportedly basal most glyptodonts. Itis up to now represented by two species from Colombia: Neoglypatelusorginalis from the middle Miocene (carapace fragment, isolated osteoderms,and postcranial bones) and Neoglyptetalus sincelejanus from the middleor late Miocene (partial carapace and caudal armor). More scarce material assignedto this genus was recovered from the late Miocene of Uruguay and Brazil. Inthis article we describe a new species, Neoglypatelus uruguayense, fromthe late Miocene Camacho Formation, Uruguay, based on an almost completecarapace and several postcranial bones. We conducted a phylogenetic analysisbased on 167 morphological characters (23 new and 144 from previous analysis)scored for 19 taxa, encompassing some of the best known glyptodontid genera,one pampathere, and four armadillos (including the enigmatic genus Pachyarmatherium).In the most parsimonious tree obtained Neoglyptatelus forms a clade withPachyarmatheirum (Pachyarmatheriidae), which is the sister group of theglyptodonts + pampatheres clade; consequently it is not a glyptodont as previouslybelieved. This result, coupled with the known stratigraphic and geographic distributionof Neoglypatelus and Pachyarmatherium, suggests that this newcingulate clade have originated in South America and that Pachyarmatherium reachedNorth America during the Plio-Pleistocene. The carapace of Neoglyptaelus andPachyarmatherium, comprises pelvic and scapular shields overlapping eachother without separate intervening transverse mobile bands, an arrangement thatdifferentiate both genera from the remaining cingulates.