Peltephilus

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.

Peltephilus

Apokryltaros at English Wikipedia · CC BY 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PeltephilidaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Xenarthra
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Xenarthra
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 15.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 11.63 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 37 occurrencesOligocene — about 7 of 37 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 30 of 37 occurrencesMiocene34–34 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 15 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 1 occurrence14–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27.3 Mya15.5 Mya34.4 Mya11.1 Mya

37 occurrences of Peltephilus on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

37 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Santa Cruz — 51.20°S, 69.12°WSanta Cruz — 48.52°S, 69.72°WSanta Cruz — 51.05°S, 69.13°WSanta Cruz — 50.95°S, 69.20°WSanta Cruz — 50.35°S, 68.95°WSanta Cruz — 50.05°S, 70.44°WSanta Cruz — 50.60°S, 69.08°WSanta Cruz — 50.00°S, 70.00°WSanta Cruz — 50.75°S, 69.18°WSanta Cruz — 50.16°S, 69.67°WSanta Cruz — 50.27°S, 70.37°WSarmiento — 44.67°S, 68.42°WSarmiento — 45.23°S, 67.49°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.67°WSarmiento — 44.50°S, 66.00°WCollón Cura — 40.39°S, 70.21°WCollón Cura — 42.65°S, 69.70°WSalla — 17.18°S, 67.63°WAgua de la Piedra — 36.55°S, 69.70°WChucal — 18.53°S, 69.17°WChinches — 32.00°S, 69.74°WCerro Boleadoras — 47.00°S, 71.62°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Peltephilus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Peltephilus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Peltephilus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

392 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Peltephilus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

18 references

Each of the 37 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 6 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Peltephilus

Credit
Apokryltaros at English Wikipedia
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Peltephilus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPeltephilidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ameghino 1887