Peltephilus

Peltephilus
Temporal range: Oligocene-Mid Miocene (Deseadan-Mayoan)
~29.0–11.6 Ma
Interpretation of P. ferox
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cingulata
Family: †Peltephilidae
Genus: †Peltephilus
Ameghino 1887
Type species
†Peltephilus ferox
Ameghino 1887
Species
  • P. depressus Ameghino 1897
  • P. ferox Ameghino 1891 (type)
  • P. giganteus Ameghino 1894
  • P. granosus Ameghino 1902
  • P. protervus Ameghino 1897
  • P. pumilus Ameghino 1887
  • P. quebradensis Ciancio, Pujos & Cerdeño, 2025
  • P. strepens Ameghino 1887
  • P. undulatus Ameghino 1897
Skull of P. ferox

Peltephilus, the horned armadillo, is an extinct genus of armadillo xenarthran mammals that first inhabited Argentina during the Oligocene epoch, and became extinct in the Miocene epoch. Notably, the scutes on its head were so developed that they formed horns. Aside from the horned gophers of North America, it is the only known fossorial horned mammal.

Description

P. ferox had a skull about 11.7 centimetres (4.6 in) long, and its estimated body mass is around 11.07 kilograms (24.4 lb).

The upper teeth on the anterior side of the skull were sharp, and they passed outside the lower teeth when the jaw was shut. The teeth of Peltephilus were covered in dentin. Visually, it looks as if Peltephilus had a full set of incisors, though they only bore one on each side, like modern armadillos. The centre of the molariform teeth was formed by degenerated linear osteodentine. The orthodentine contained odontoblastic processes with abundant short extensions and reached the outer surfaces. Cementum was absent from the teeth.

Taxonomy

The genus was originally classified as belonging to the family Chlamyphoridae, but in 2007 was placed in its own family Peltephilidae by Darin A. Croft, John J. Flynn and Andre Wyss.

Palaeobiology

Palaeoecology

Although it had traditionally been perceived as a carnivore because of its large, triangular-shaped teeth, Vizcaino and Fariña argued in 1997 that Peltephilus was a herbivore.

Distribution

Fossils of Peltephilus have been found in:

Deseadan
Miocene

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. pp. 208–209. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
  2. ↑ Vlachos, Evangelos (2018). "A Review of the Fossil Record of North American Turtles of the Clade Pan-Testudinoidea". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 59 (1): 3–94. doi:10.3374/014.058.0201. ISSN 0079-032X.
  3. ↑ Vizcaíno, Sergio F.; Fernicola, Juan C.; Bargo, M. Susana (2012), "Paleobiology of Santacrucian glyptodonts and armadillos (Xenarthra, Cingulata)", in Bargo, M. Susana; Kay, Richard F.; Vizcaíno, Sergio F. (eds.), Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 194–215, doi:10.1017/cbo9780511667381.013, ISBN 978-0-521-19461-7, retrieved 22 May 2023
  4. ↑ Scott, William Berryman (1913). A history of land mammals in the western hemisphere. Smithsonian Libraries. New York, The MacMillan Company.
  5. ↑ Kalthoff, Daniela C. (31 March 2011). "Microstructure of dental hard tissues in fossil and recent xenarthrans (Mammalia: Folivora and Cingulata)". Journal of Morphology. 272 (6): 641–661. doi:10.1002/jmor.10937. ISSN 0362-2525. Retrieved 12 November 2025 – via Wiley Online Library.
  6. 1 2 Croft et al., 2007
  7. ↑ Vizcaino, S. F., & R. A. Farina (1997), Diet and locomotion of the armadillo Peltephilus: a new view. Lethaia, 30, 79-86.
  8. ↑ Peltephilus at Fossilworks.org
  9. ↑ Shockey, 2017
  10. ↑ González Ruiz et al., 2013, p. 323

Bibliography