Glyptotherium

Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Early Pliocene-Early Holocene (Blancan-Rancholabrean) (Ensenadan-Lujanian)~ | image = Glyptotherium.jpg | image_caption = G. texanum, National Museum of Natural History | taxon = Glyptotherium | authority = Osborn, 1903 | type_species = Glyptotherium texanum | type_species_authority = Osborn, 1903 | subdivision_ranks = Other Species | subdivision = * G. cylindricum (Brown, 1912) | range_map = Glyptodon and Glyptotherium Distribution Map2.jpg | range_map_caption = Distribution of Glyptotherium (orange) compared to Glyptodons (green). | synonyms = * Boreostracon Simpson, 1929 Brachyostracon Brown, 1912 Xenoglyptodon Meade, 1953 Glyptotherium (from Greek for 'grooved or carved beast') is a genus of glyptodont (an extinct group of large, herbivorous armadillos) in the family Chlamyphoridae (a family of South American armadillos) that lived from the Early Pliocene, about 4.9 million years ago, to the Early Holocene, around 7,000 years ago. It had a wide distribution, living in the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Venezuela, and Brazil. The genus was first described in 1903 by American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn with the type species being, G. texanum, based on fossils that had been found in the Pliocene Blancan Beds in Llano Estacado, Texas, USA. Glyptotherium fossils have since been unearthed from many more fossil sites, from Florida to Colombia. Another species, G. cylindricum''', was named in 1912 by fossil hunter Barnum Brown on the basis of a partial skeleton that had been unearthed from the Pleistocene deposits in Jalisco, Mexico. The two species differ in several aspects, including age, with G. texanum being from the older Early Pliocene to Early Pleistocene strata, whereas G. cylindricum is exclusive to the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Glyptotherium was a large, quadrapedral (four-legged), herbivorous armadillo with an armored carapace (top shell) that was made of hundreds of interconnected osteoderms (structures in dermis composed of bone).