Paleontologists hang identified a serene species of the extinct armadillo genus Parutaetus from fossilized osteoderms silent within the recount of Paraná in southern Brazil.
Hypothetical ingenious reconstruction of Parutaetus oliveirai within the Center-Slow Eocene of Brazil. Image credit score: Márcio L. Castro.
Parutaetus oliveirai inhabited South The USA between 42 and 39 million years ago (Center-Slow Eocene epoch).
The primitive species belongs to Euphractinae, a community of armadillos within the family Dasypodidae.
“Dasypodidae are represented by extant and extinct armadillos,” said Universidade Federal de Santa paleontologist Tabata Klimeck and colleagues.
“This community has a extensive stratigraphic and geographic distribution from southern Patagonia to southern North The USA.”
“The paleontological checklist of armadillos is basically represented by their osteoderms.”
“They’re identified in nearly all South American mammalian faunas from the Slow Paleocene/Early Eocene or most productive from the Early Eocene, in step with other interpretations.”
“Euphractinae is basically the most various clade (subfamily) within Dasypodidae,” they mighty.
“The oldest occurrences of undoubted euphractines date from the Center-Slow Eocene of Gran Barranca locality in Argentinian Patagonia and Center Eocene Better Lumbrera Formation of northwestern Argentina.”
“Parutaetus is one amongst the early-divergent euphractines,” they added.
“This genus was once described in 1902, with the model species Parutaetus chicoensis from Argentinian Patagonia.”
Eight fossilized osteoderms from Parutaetus oliveirai had been learned within the Guabirotuba Formation, positioned within the municipality of Curitiba within the Brazilian recount of Paraná.
“The Guabirotuba Formation is the predominant lithostratigraphic unit of the Curitiba Sedimentary Basin,” the paleontologists said.
“It’s represented by deposits of a distributive fluvial system peaceable of immature subarchoic sands and muds, interspersed with gravel deposits restricted to the perimeters of the basin.”
“The geological characteristics gift a semi-arid surroundings, with rainy sessions originating non everlasting rivers that transported the sediment and fashioned alluvial followers.”
The serene species expands the information about the range of armadillos that inhabited southeast South The USA at some level of the Paleogene length.
“Parutaetus oliveirai’s osteoderms fluctuate from other species of the genus by presenting: (i) extra surface glandular and piliferous foramina; (ii) a flat surface articulation home between the osteoderms, which would now not show hide a groove within the middle half of the osteoderm; and (iii) higher size,” the researchers said.
“In aggregate, this suite of traits is now not any longer show hide in other species of the Parutaetus genus.”
“The amplify within the preference of surface glandular and piliferous foramina, as effectively as in size, will likely be connected with the realm cooling that occurred at some level of the Center-Slow Eocene that affected the South American faunas.”
“In the end, the serene species expands the information about the serene poorly identified diversity of mammals that inhabited southeast South The USA at some level of the Eocene epoch.”
The findings had been printed within the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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T.D.F. Klimeck et al. 2024. Revealing the range of Paleogene cingulates from Brazil: a serene species of Parutaetus (Euphractinae) within the Guabirotuba Formation (Center-Slow Eocene). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 44 (1): e2403581; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2403581
