Glyptodon
| Glyptodon | ||||||||||||
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Skeleton of Glyptodon asper in the Vienna Natural History Museum |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Pleistocene | ||||||||||||
| about 0.012 million years ago | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Glyptodon | ||||||||||||
| Owen , 1839 | ||||||||||||
Glyptodon is a genus of mammals from the Pleistocene of South America that became extinct about 12,000 years ago. Richard Owen described this form of armored articulated animals scientifically for the first time in 1839.
description
The genus belonged to the largest representatives within the Glyptodonten ( Glyptodontidae ). As with the other genera of this taxon, the dome-shaped back armor consisted of intergrown polygonal skin ossifications (osteodermal armor). While Glyptodon , like the similar Glyptotherium from North America, had a tail armor that was completely articulated into movable rings, other genera such as Panochthus and Doedicurus had a rigid tube at the tail end. Glyptodon could weigh up to 1,400 kilograms and be more than three meters tall; so it was roughly equivalent to a black rhinoceros . Like all giant armadillos, it became extinct at the end of the last glacial period . The most recent finds come from Brazil and are around 12,000 years old.
Way of life and distribution
Glyptodon was widespread in South America until the late Upper Pleistocene . Like the rest of the glyptodons, it lived on grass and lived on the savannah . Finds from Florida show that these animals were not completely safe from predators. Subadult (not fully grown) individuals could be captured by jaguars , who killed them by biting their skulls, which were still relatively poorly protected.
literature
- Erich Thenius : Basics of the fauna and distribution history of mammals. A historical animal geography. 2nd, completely revised edition. Fischer, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-437-30312-0 .
- Paul S. Martin , Richard G. Klein (Eds.): Quaternary Extinctions. A Prehistoric Revolution. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson AZ 1984, ISBN 0-8165-1100-4 .
- Arno Hermann Müller : Textbook of paleozoology. Volume 3: Vertebrates. Part 3: Mammalia. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Fischer, Jena 1989, ISBN 3-334-00223-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Paleobiology Database (last accessed July 31, 2018)