LOS PELTEPHILIDAE (MAMMALIA, XENARTHRA) DE LA FORMACIÓN COLLÓN CURÁ (SALMA COLLONCURENSE, MIOCENO MEDIO), ARGENTINA

GONZÁLEZ-RUIZ, LAUREANO; GÓIS, FLAVIO; CIANCIO, MARTÍN R.; SCILLATO-YANÉ, G. J.

REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE PALEONTOLOGIA

SOC BRASILEIRA PALEONTOLOGIA

Lugar: Porto Alegre; Año: 2013 vol. 16 p. 319 - 330

1519-7530

The Peltephilidae (early Eocene-late Miocene) are a group of extinct armadillos exclusive from South America, known for being the unique "horned? armadillos. This paper describes for the first time specimens of Peltephilidae (Xenarthra, Cingulata) from the Collón Curá Formation (Colloncuran SALMA, middle Miocene) of Patagonia (Argentina), and a nomenclatorial proposal for anatomical description of these cingulate osteoderms is discussed. The new specimens are assigned to Peltephilidae Gen. et sp. indet., Peltephilus pumilus and Peltephilus nanus. The latter two species represent their youngest record and indicate a closer taxonomic affinity of the Colloncuran SALMA with the previous Santacrucian SALMA, instead of the subsequent Laventan and Mayoan SALMAs. The major change in the nomenclature of the osteoderms in Peltephilidae that we propose here is to replace the term "central or main figure" by "central longitudinal elevation". Finally, by analogy with the living species of Dasypodidae and the extinct Pampatheriidae, some considerations are presented about the relationships between the osteoderm and the overlying epidermal scale in Peltephilidae.