Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2013
This chapter describes the paleobiology of Santacrucian cingulates (armadillos and glyptodonts). At least five genera of armadillos and four genera of glyptodonts were sympatric in the Santa Cruz Formation. Body masses were calculated based on a variety of scaling models, allometric equations, multiple regressions, and geometric similarity. The locomotor habits were inferred from indices previously modeled in living dasypodids, using morphogeometric analyses and the application of a strength indicator. Feeding habits were inferred from jaw biomechanics, and the shape, arrangement, and wear patterns on teeth, and from ecomorphological analyses. All armadillos fall in the range of medium-sized living armadillos, and all glyptodonts are larger than any living armadillo, slightly greater than 100 kg, but are smaller than Middle Miocene–Pleistocene glyptodonts. All Santacrucian armadillos were good diggers but none reached the degree of fossoriality found in some specialized living taxa; all glyptodonts were ambulatory. The variation in the masticatory apparatus of the armadillos exceeds that in the living species, denoting a broader range of specializations and strong niche partitioning among the fossil species. The degree of variation in the masticatory apparatus of glyptodonts suggests differences in the selectivity of feeding and habitat preference. The taxonomic richness of armadillos is similar to that recorded today in the Chaqueña biogeographic province, supporting the environmental interpretation of a mixture of open and relatively closed vegetation in relatively dry conditions.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.