Dasypus bellus
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Dasypus bellus Temporal range: |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Cingulata |
| Family: | Dasypodidae |
| Genus: | Dasypus |
| Species: |
†D. bellus (Simpson, 1930) |
| Binomial name | |
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†Dasypus bellus |
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| Synonyms | |
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†Tatu bellus Simpson, 1930 |
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†Tatu bellus Simpson, 1930
Dasypus bellus, the beautiful armadillo, is an extinct armadillo species endemic to North America and South America from the , living from 1.8 mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately 1.789 million years.
Slightly larger than its living relative, the nine-banded armadillo, its fossils are known from Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil to Florida. Records extend west to New Mexico and north to Iowa and Indiana.
D. bellus had small, simple, peg like teeth similar to D. novemcinctus. This armadillo had a height 3.3 feet (1m). The anterior teeth had a single, slanted wear surface. The more latter teeth likely had two flat wear surfaces that meet at a shallow angle. The diet is believed to be similar to the modern species.
The beautiful armadillo was large approximately 1.2 m long . It was about twice the size of the nine-banded armadillo. The osteoderms of the shell and the limb bones of D. bellus are about two to two and a half times the extent of those of the living modern nine-banded armadillo D. novemcinctus. The small D. bellus overlapped in size with the D.novemcinctus. The body size of D. bellus decreased during the late Pleistocene, suggesting body size was variable.
Earliest fossils are found in early Pleistocene South America, and would emigrate into southern North America. By the late Pleistocene, D. bellus spread into the southwestern United States. The living animals apparently preferred dry scrub environments.
Testing of two D. bellus fossils and modern armadillos has proved the species are not genetically the same. However, one of the D. bellus fossils proved to be a D. novemcinctus. The mistake was due to the high morphological similarities between the two species. It also proved that D. novemcinctus was in Florida much earlier than previously thought.
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Wikipedia