Cingulata

Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra, is an order of armored New World placental mammals. Dasypodids and chlamyphorids, the armadillos, are the only surviving families in the order. Two groups of cingulates much larger than extant armadillos (maximum body mass of 45 kg (100 lb) in the case of the giant armadillo) existed until recently: pampatheriids, which reached weights of up to 200 kg (440 lb) and chlamyphorid glyptodonts, which attained masses of 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) or more.
The cingulate order originated in South America during the Paleocene epoch about 66 to 56 million years ago, and due to the continent's former isolation remained confined to it during most of the Cenozoic. However, the formation of a land bridge allowed members of all three families to migrate to southern North America during the Pliocene or early Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange. After surviving for tens of millions of years, all of the pampatheriids and giant glyptodonts apparently died out during the Quaternary extinction event at the beginning of the Holocene, along with much of the rest of the regional megafauna, shortly after the colonization of the Americas by Paleo-Indians.
Description
Armadillos have dorsal armor that is formed by osteoderms, plates of dermal bone covered in relatively small, overlapping keratinized epidermal scales called "scutes". Most species have rigid shields over the shoulders and hips, with three to nine bands separated by flexible skin covering the back and flanks.
Pampatheres also had shells that were flexible due to three movable lateral bands of osteoderms. The osteoderms of pampatheres were each covered by a single scute, unlike those of armadillos, which have more than one. Glyptodonts, on the other hand, had rigid, turtle-like shells of fused osteoderms.
Both groups have or had a cap of armor atop their heads. Glyptodonts also had heavily armored tails; some, such as Doedicurus, had mace-like clubs at the ends of their tails, similar to those of ankylosaurs, evidently used for defensive or agonistic purposes.
Most armadillos eat insects and other invertebrates; some are more omnivorous and may also eat small vertebrates and vegetable matter. Pampatheres are thought to have been specialized for grazing, and isotopic analysis indicates the diet of glyptodonts was dominated by C4 grasses. Euphractinae is unique for speciations towards carnivory, culminating in the macropredatory genus Macroeuphractus.
Classification
The taxonomic table below follows the results of a phylogenetic analysis published by Delsuc et al., 2016. While glyptodonts have traditionally been considered stem-group cingulates outside the group that contains modern armadillos, this 2016 study conducted an analysis of Doedicurus mtDNA and found that it was, in fact, nested within the modern armadillos as the sister group of a clade consisting of Chlamyphorinae and Tolypeutinae.
Order Cingulata
Family †Peltephilidae Ameghino 1894
Genus †Anantiosodon Ameghino 1891
Genus †Epipeltephilus Ameghino 1904
Genus †Parapeltecoelus Bordas 1938
Genus †Peltecoelus Ameghino 1902
Genus †Peltephilus Ameghino 1887 (Horned armadillo)
Genus †Ronwolffia Shockey 2017
Family †Paleopeltidae Ameghino 1895
Genus †Palaeopeltis Ameghino 1895
Family †Pampatheriidae
Genus ?†Machlydotherium Ameghino 1902
Genus †Holmesina Simpson 1930
Genus †Kraglievichia Castellanos 1927
Genus †Machlydotherium
Genus †Pampatherium Ameghino 1875 ex Gervais & Ameghino 1880
Genus †Scirrotherium Edmund & Theodor 1997
Genus †Tonnicinctus Góis et al. 2015
Genus †Vassallia Castellanos 1927 [Plaina Castellanos 1937]
Genus †Yuruatherium Ciancio et al. 2012
Family †Pachyarmatheriidae Fernicola et al. 2018
Genus †Neoglyptatelus Carlini, Vizcaíno & Scillato-Yané 1997
Genus †Pachyarmatherium Downing & White 1995
Family Dasypodidae (long-nosed armadillos)
Genus †Acantharodeia
Genus †Amblytatus
Genus †Archaeutatus
Genus †Astegotherium
Genus †Astegotherium
Genus †Barrancatatus
Genus †Chasicotatus
Genus †Chorobates
Genus †Coelutaetus
Genus †Eocoleophorus
Genus †Epipeltecoelus
Genus †Eutatus
Genus †Hemiutaetus
Genus †Isutaetus
Genus †Lumbreratherium
Genus †Macrochorobates
Genus †Mazzoniphractus
Genus †Meteutatus
Genus †Pedrolypeutes
Genus †Prodasypus
Genus †Proeutatus
Genus †Prostegotherium
Genus †Pucatherium
Genus †Punatherium
Genus †Stegotherium
Genus †Stenotatus
Genus †Utaetus
Genus †Vetelia
Subfamily Dasypodinae
Genus †Anadasypus
Genus Dasypus
Genus †Nanoastegotherium
Genus †Parastegosimpsonia
Genus †Pliodasypus
Genus †Propraopus
Genus †Riostegotherium
Genus †Stegosimpsonia
Family Chlamyphoridae: glyptodonts and other armadillos
Subfamily Chlamyphorinae: fairy armadillos
Genus Calyptophractus
Genus Chlamyphorus
Subfamily Euphractinae: hairy, six-banded and pichi armadillos
Genus Chaetophractus
Genus †Doellotatus
Genus Euphractus
Genus †Macroeuphractus
Genus †Peltephilus
Genus †Proeuphractus
Genus †Paleuphractus
Genus Zaedyus
Subfamily †Glyptodontinae: glyptodonts
Genus †Doedicurus
Genus †Glyptodon
Genus †Glyptotherium
Genus †Hoplophorus
Genus †Panochthus
Genus †Parapropalaehoplophorus
Genus †Plaxhaplous
Subfamily Tolypeutinae: giant, three-banded and naked-tailed armadillos
Genus Cabassous
Genus †Kuntinaru
Genus Priodontes
Genus Tolypeutes
References
Xenarthrans
Mammal orders
Taxa named by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger
Extant Thanetian first appearances