A new and most complete pampathere (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Cingulata) from the Quaternary of Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

Pampatheriidae is a group of South American native cingulates recorded from the Middle Miocene to the Early Holocene. These animals arrived in North America during the Great American Biotic Interchange. During the Quaternary, at least three genera existed: Tonnicinctus Góis, González Ruiz, Scillato-Yané and Soibelzon, Pampatherium Gervais and Ameghino, and Holmesina Simpson. They are differentiated mainly by craniodental and osteodermal characters. In this paper, we describe a new species of Holmesina from Bahia state, Brazil. Two well-preserved specimens possessing osteoderms associated with their skeletons enabled us to determine the genus and species more reliably. Holmesina cryptae sp. nov. differs from the other Quaternary pampatheres by having the simplest ornamental pattern of osteoderms, sharing characteristics between Pampatherium and Holmesina osteoderms and the most robust skull among the Holmesina species, however preserving the main synapomorphies of the genus. Moreover, the integrity of the remains of H. cryptae sp. nov. enabled us to describe elements of the hyoid apparatus, the clavicle, the entire vertebral column and the pelvis. It was also possible to measure its total axial length (2.2 m) more reliably, which is smaller than previously estimated for other pampatheres. Holmesina cryptae sp. nov. constitutes the sixth species of the genus, and it is the fourth in South America.

The last horned armadillos: phylogeny and decline of Peltephilidae (Xenarthra, Cingulata)

“…This contrasts with other cingulate lineages, which survived until the Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene (glyptodonts, pampatheres; Moura et al . 2019; Politis et al . 2019) or have extant representatives (chlamyphorids, dasypodids; Abba & Vizcaíno 2011).…”

Clustering Analysis of Distributional Patterns of Global Terrestrial Mammal

“…Although this feature does not have an impact on the large pattern, it has an obvious impact on the crowd. Within crowds C, D, and E, the differences of BGU between continents become smaller, and the independence of islands increases, such as BGU 35,36,37,38,49,58 and 69.…”

“…The data source of this study is the monograph of zoologists [30,31]; Floristic data collated by professional biodiversity websites [32]. In addition, new species and new distribution records published by taxonomists will be supplemented at any time [33][34][35][36]. In the mammal fauna data of 20,867 species in 29 orders, excluding deep-sea species and fossil species, there are 7,591 species of terrestrial mammals in 27 orders, 162 families, 1,374 genera for analysis (Table 1).…”

New exoskeletal material from Bahia provides new evidence of geographic distribution and paleopathology for Quaternary cingulates

“…The species Holmesina paulacoutoi, Holmesina major , Holmesina rondoniensis (Góis et al, 2012), and Holmesina cryptae (Moura et al, 2019) are reported for Brazil. The osteoderms described here (Figure 2P) have features consistent with H. paulacoutoi, including more pronounced ornamentation than in H. cryptae, a welldeveloped longitudinal central elevation (poorly developed in H. major and comparatively low in H. cryptae), and shallow lateral depressions (deep in H. major) (see Góis, 2013;Moura et al, 2019). There are no osteoderms described for H. rondoniensis for comparison.…”