#xenarthra

[antiqueanimals]

Don Balke (American, b. 1933). Texas Armadillo, Pecan, 1980. Gouache and watercolor on board.

MutualArt

[rombology]

A little needle-felt tamandua! He is my second needlefelting project and I am very happy with how he came out. Quarter for scale!

[alphynix]

Panochthus tuberculatus was a large glyptodont – a group of giant heavily-armored armadillos – that lived in central and southern South America during the late Pleistocene, about 800,000-12,000 years ago.

Around 3.5m long (~11.5') and 1.5m tall (~5'), it was similar in size to a modern rhino (or a small car), and its large domed "shell" made up of numerous small bony osteoderms made it resemble a mammalian tortoise. Its skull was short and deep, with ever-growing grinding teeth and downwards-flaring cheekbones that anchored powerful jaw muscles. A preserved hyoid apparatus indicates that Panochthus also had a more flexible tongue than some other glyptodonts.

The base of its tail was segmented into rings that allowed it to flex, while the end of the tail was fused into a solid bony tube that was probably studded with large keratinous knobs or spikes.

While these sort of tail weapons in glyptodonts have been proposed as being anti-predator defenses, biomechanical studies suggest they required precise aiming to be most effective and weren't well-suited to fending off fast-moving attackers. Instead they may have been more specialized for fighting each other in ritualized forms of combat – an idea supported by injuries in fossil carapaces that appear to have been caused by blows from opponents' tail clubs.

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NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Blanco, R. Ernesto, Washington W. Jones, and Andrés Rinderknecht. "The sweet spot of a biological hammer: the centre of percussion of glyptodont (Mammalia: Xenarthra) tail clubs" Proc. R. Soc. B. 276 (2009): 3971–3978. https://www.academia.edu/download/71293979/The_sweet_spot_of_a_biological_hammer_th20211004-20926-1xg5uwp.pdf

Luna, Carlos A., et al. "Memories of the blows: severe soft-tissue injuries in caudal vertebrae of Panochthus Burmeister (Xenarthra, Glyptodontidae)." Journal of Mammalian Evolution 31.3 (2024): 29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-024-09729-0

Lima, F.C.G., Porpino, K. & Ribeiro, A.M. "Trauma-induced alterations in the exoskeleton of glyptodonts (Cingulata, Xenarthra) associated with fighting behavior." Journal of Mammalian Evolution 32, 9 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-025-09750-x

Wikipedia contributors. “Glyptodont” Wikipedia, 25 May 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodont

Wikipedia contributors. “Panochthus” Wikipedia, 02 Jun. 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panochthus

Zamorano, Martín, and Richard A. Fariña. "Changes in form and function of the caudal tubes in Panochthus (Xenarthra; Glyptodontidae) along the Pleistocene." Historical Biology 34.12 (2022): 2265-2272. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357020158_Changes_in_form_and_function_of_the_caudal_tubes_in_Panochthus_Xenarthra_Glyptodontidae_along_the_Pleistocene

Zamorano, Martín, et al. "Hyoid apparatus of Panochthus sp. (Xenarthra; Glyptodontidae) from the Late Pleistocene of the Pampean Region (Argentina). Comparative description and muscle reconstruction." (2018). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 288.2 (2018): 205–219. https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/bitstream/handle/11336/97007/CONICET_Digital_Nro.bcac99f6-b327-435a-bca7-137dfd6af700_D.pdf?sequence=5

[willowothewisp]

do you like my masterpiece

"The Wao", By Willow The Wisp (2025)

[daily-xenarthra-posting]

let's lead the way for mama

Brazilian Seven-Banded Armadillo, photographed by Gabriel Völker Lacerda (Source)

[trilobutch]

The Museum of Science in Boston just announced the birth of Backpack, a screaming hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus vellerosus)

[chaotic-inaturalist-images]

let's get birthed by mama

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth, Photographed by Aitor Gonzalo (Source)

[dystopianroach]

Like all members of Xenarthra, the Silky Anteater (Cyclopes sp.) possesses large claws on it's forefeet, in this case two comically large ones on it's small lumpy stump hands (which hide it's other vestigial - or not visible/functioning - fingers underneath it's skin). Much like the rest of it's superorder, it can use these claws as a means of a threat display... but given this thing's incredibly small body size and laughably slow metabolism & reaction time, it doesn't really ever look like it's threatening much of anybody.

Are you feeling intimidated yet? Go easy on him. It's his first time being big and scary