Doedicurus

Doedicurus, from Ancient Greek δοῖδυξ (doîdux), meaning "pestle" and oυρά (ourá), meaning "tail", is an extinct genus of glyptodont from South America containing one species, D. clavicaudatus. Glyptodonts are a member of the family Chlamyphoridae, which also includes some modern armadillo species, and they are classified in the superorder Xenarthra alongside sloths and anteaters. Being a glyptodont, it was a rotund animal with heavy armor and a carapace. Averaging at an approximate 1,400 kg (3,100 lb), it was one of the largest glyptodonts to have ever lived. Though glyptodonts were quadrupeds, large ones like Doedicurus may have been able to stand on two legs like other xenarthrans. It notably sported a spiked tail club, which may have weighed 40 or 65 kg in life, and it may have swung this in defense against predators or in fights with other Doedicurus at speeds of perhaps 11 m/s.

Doedicurus

JAMES D. DANA · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
DoedicuriniPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Xenarthra
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Xenarthra
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Length
3.6 mWikidata
Mass
1400 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 388 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 400 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 20 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 20 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 18 of 20 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 20 occurrences5.1–5.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.0–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.8–4.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.4–4.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.0–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.4–2.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.0–1.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.3–1.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.1–917 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences917 ka–733 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences733 ka–550 ka Mya — about 0.7 occurrences550 ka–367 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence367 ka–183 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences183 ka–0 Mya — about 14 occurrences400 ka – 11.7 ka5.5 Mya0 Mya

20 occurrences of Doedicurus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

20 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Lujan — 36.78°S, 59.87°WLujan — 38.57°S, 58.70°WLujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WDolores — 34.42°S, 56.26°WDolores — 34.38°S, 57.88°WSan José — 34.80°S, 55.30°WAgua Blanca — 38.48°S, 61.80°WLuján — 37.00°S, 60.38°WMiramar — 38.17°S, 57.65°WSanta Vitória — 33.74°S, 53.37°WLibertad — 34.53°S, 56.18°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Doedicurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Doedicurus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Doedicurus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

182 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Doedicurus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

19 references

Each of the 20 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 7 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Doedicurus

Credit
JAMES D. DANA
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Doedicurus clavicaudatus · pimuz:459

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDoedicurini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Burmeister 1874