Paleontologists have acknowledged a model new species of the extinct armadillo genus Parutaetus from fossilized osteoderms collected inside the state of Paraná in southern Brazil.
Hypothetical ingenious reconstruction of Parutaetus oliveirai inside the Heart-Late Eocene of Brazil. Image credit score rating: Márcio L. Castro.
Parutaetus oliveirai inhabited South America between 42 and 39 million years up to now (Heart-Late Eocene epoch).
The standard species belongs to Euphractinae, a bunch of armadillos contained in the family Dasypodidae.
“Dasypodidae are represented by extant and extinct armadillos,” talked about Universidade Federal de Santa paleontologist Tabata Klimeck and colleagues.
“This group has a big stratigraphic and geographic distribution from southern Patagonia to southern North America.”
“The paleontological doc of armadillos is principally represented by their osteoderms.”
“They’re recognized in just about all South American mammalian faunas from the Late Paleocene/Early Eocene or solely from the Early Eocene, consistent with totally different interpretations.”
“Euphractinae is basically essentially the most quite a few clade (subfamily) inside Dasypodidae,” they well-known.
“The oldest occurrences of undoubted euphractines date from the Heart-Late Eocene of Gran Barranca locality in Argentinian Patagonia and Heart Eocene Increased Lumbrera Formation of northwestern Argentina.”
“Parutaetus is no doubt one of many early-divergent euphractines,” they added.
“This genus was described in 1902, with the kind species Parutaetus chicoensis from Argentinian Patagonia.”
Eight fossilized osteoderms from Parutaetus oliveirai have been found inside the Guabirotuba Formation, positioned inside the municipality of Curitiba inside the Brazilian state of Paraná.
“The Guabirotuba Formation is the first lithostratigraphic unit of the Curitiba Sedimentary Basin,” the paleontologists talked about.
“It is represented by deposits of a distributive fluvial system composed of immature subarchoic sands and muds, interspersed with gravel deposits restricted to the sides of the basin.”
“The geological traits level out a semi-arid ambiance, with moist intervals originating short-term rivers that transported the sediment and formed alluvial followers.”
The model new species expands the data regarding the number of armadillos that inhabited southeast South America in the midst of the Paleogene interval.
“Parutaetus oliveirai’s osteoderms differ from totally different species of the genus by presenting: (i) further flooring glandular and piliferous foramina; (ii) a flat flooring articulation house between the osteoderms, which does not present a groove inside the middle portion of the osteoderm; and (iii) greater measurement,” the researchers talked about.
“Collectively, this suite of traits won’t be present in several species of the Parutaetus genus.”
“The rise inside the number of flooring glandular and piliferous foramina, along with in measurement, is also associated to the worldwide cooling that occurred in the midst of the Heart-Late Eocene that affected the South American faunas.”
“Lastly, the model new species expands the data regarding the nonetheless poorly recognized number of mammals that inhabited southeast South America in the midst of the Eocene epoch.”
The findings have been revealed inside the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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T.D.F. Klimeck et al. 2024. Revealing the vary of Paleogene cingulates from Brazil: a model new species of Parutaetus (Euphractinae) inside the Guabirotuba Formation (Heart-Late Eocene). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 44 (1): e2403581; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2403581