Glyptotherium cylindricum (Xenarthra, Glyptodontidae) en el Cinturón Transvolcánico, Estado de Puebla, México

Abstract

Glyptodontinae, was the unique subclades of Glyptodontidae (Cingulata, Xenarthra), that participated in the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) and arrived in Central and North America in the early Pliocene (ca. 3.9 Ma). Currently, Glyptotherium is the only one genus recognized in North and Central America, with two chronospecies, Gl. texanum (Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene) and Gl. cylindricum (Late Pleistocene). While the evolutionary history of this genus has been relatively well studied in the present territory of the United States, little is known about these glyptodonts in southern North America (Mexico) and Central America. Glyptotherium is probably the only pan- American genus of glyptodonts with records in North and Central America and, possibly, northern and western South America. Here, we describe a specimen assignable to Glyptotherium (dorsal carapace, caudal armor, mandible, and vertebrae) and coming from the Late Pleistocene of General Felipe Ángeles Municipality, Puebla (Mexico). In addition, the dorsal profile of the dorsal carapace and its ornamentation pattern allow its assignment to Gl. cylindricum. The location of this new record of Gl. cylindricum allows us to hypothesize that these animals may have used the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt-Sierra Madre del Sur axis as a corridor to disperse throughout south-central North America and Central America, especially during the coldest periods of the Late Pleistocene. During this period, both the South American species Glyptodon reticulatus and Gl. cylindricum reached their greatest latitudinal distribution, suggesting an ecological plasticity not observed in other Glyptodontidae throughout their extensive evolutionary history.

Keywords: diversity, Pleistocene, distribution, Southern North America.