Holmesina is an Extinction genus of Pampatheriidae, a group of armadillo-like Xenarthra that were distantly related to extant taxon armadillos. Like armadillos, and unlike the other extinct branch of megafaunal Cingulata the Glyptodontinae, the shell was made up of flexible plates which allowed the animal to move more easily.
Holmesina individuals were much larger than any modern armadillo: They could reach a length of , and a weight of , while the modern giant armadillo does not attain more than .
Taxonomy
Joseph Leidy initially described
Holmesina fossils from Florida as
Glyptodon septentrionalis in 1889. However, shortly after a close relationship with the
Pampatheriidae was realized, wherein the finds were reassigned to the South American
Pampatherium ("
Chlamytherium")
humboldtii, therein revised to its own species,
Chlamytherium septentrionalis, by Elias Howard Sellards in 1915.
After additional fossils from Texas were described, George Gaylord Simpson assigned the finds to its own genus,
Holmesina, in 1930.
Distribution
They traveled north during the faunal interchange, and adapted well to
North America, like the
, glyptodonts, armadillos,
, and other South American immigrants. During the Late Pleistocene,
Holmesina dispersed from North America back into South America, as evidenced by the morphological similarity of Late Pleistocene species in South America.
Their fossils are found from Brazil to the United States,
mostly in
Texas and
Florida.
Diet
Holmesina species were
Herbivory that grazed on coarse vegetation; armadillos are mostly
insectivorous or
omnivorous.
was a generalist plant-eater but had a preference for C
4 plants.
Palaeopathology
Three
H. cryptae specimens have been described bearing evidence of bacterial and fungal infections, along with sand flea ectoparasitism.
Further reading
-
J. C. Cisneros. 2005. New Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from El Salvador. Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia 8(3):239-255
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P. J. Gaudioso, G. M. Gasparini, and R. M. Barquez. 2016. Paleofauna del Pleistoceno de Termas de Rio Hondo, Santiago del Estero, Argentina. Ameghiniana 53(6):54-54
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J. I. Mead, S. L. Swift, R. S. White, H. G. McDonald, and A. Baez. 2007. Late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) glyptodont and pampathere (Xenarthra, Cingulata) from Sonora, Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas 24(3):439-449
