Limb reconstruction of Eutatus seguini (Mammalia: Dasypodidae). Paleobiological implications

VIZCAÍNO S. F.; MILNE N.; BARGO M. S.

AMEGHINIANA

ASOCIACION PALEONTOLOGICA ARGENTINA

Año: 2003 vol. 40 p. 89 - 101

0002-7014

Eutatus seguini Gervais is one of the largest members of the family Dasypodidae. It was very common during the Late Pliocene-Early Holocene in Uruguay and central-eastern Argentina. Some specimens that include well preserved and complete endoskeletal elements allowed to perform morpho-functional and biomechanical studies in order to infer locomotory adaptations. Compared anatomical descriptions of Eutatus seguini Gervais with the recent armadillos Chaetophractus villosus (Desmarest), Dasypus hybridus (Desmarest), and the only living species of similar size Priodontes maximus (Kerr), were done. Its body mass was estimated through allometric equations. Different indices were calculated in order to analyse its limb proportions and their correlation with digging habits. The indices were compared with the values recorded for all living armadillo tribes, from mostly cursorial through subterranean. The general architecture and proportions of the limbs of E. seguini, and therefore its digging habits, are similar to those of the Euphractiniand Dasypodini. Eutatus seguinishows unique features, for it reaches the size of the hiperspecialised digger and mirmecophagous Priodontes maximus, but with less fossorial specialisation and markedly herbivorous feeding habits.