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Endocranial cast anatomy of the Early Miocene glyptodont Propalaehoplophorus australis (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Cingulata) and its evolutionary implications

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Abstract

Propalaehoplophorus is an Early Miocene genus of glyptodonts, a group of extinct armored mammals closely related to armadillos and endemic to South America. Here, we present the first digital reconstruction of the endocranial cavity of the glyptodont Propalaehoplophorus australis and compare it to endocasts of Late Miocene and Pleistocene glyptodonts, pampatheres, and extant armadillos. Propalaehoplophorus australis shares exclusively with other glyptodonts the neocortical sulcation pattern and cranial nerve (CN) V3 pathway. It also shares with both other glyptodonts and pampatheres the rhinal fissure trajectory, small piriform lobe, marked dorsal expansion of neocortical fronto-parietal region, conspicuous thickness of superior longitudinal sinus, and presence of a well-marked lateral sulcus and medial shape of petrosal bone; this last trait is also observable in Chlamyphorus. The olfactory bulbs of Pr. australis, Holmesina, and Pampatherium are anteriorly elongated and partially laterally divergent as in the glyptodont Pseudoplohophorus absolutus. Other features, like the globular proximal shape of olfactory peduncles, topological arrangement of CNs IX-XII, differentiated petrosal lobule of paraflocculus, and orientation of spinal cord are shared among Pr. australis, Ps. absolutus, pampatheres, and extant armadillos. The similarities between Pr. australis, remaining glyptodonts, and pampatheres could be synapomorphies of pampatheres + glyptodonts. By contrast, Pr. australis, pampatheres, and all the analyzed armadillos share the same configuration of the pathway of CNs IX-XII, a feature that could support the basal position of Pr. australis among glyptodonts for which cranial remains are known. In this context, the brain cavity seems to be a promising source of information for revealing the evolutionary history of this mammalian clade.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the personnel of CEUNIM and, in particular, to Amalia Perez, Alejandro Valda, and collaborators for assistance with CT scans. We thank Marcelo Reguero (MLP), Pablo Teta (MACNMa), and Laura Chornogubsky and Laura Cruz (MACN-Pv), who kindly gave access to the specimens under their care. This work was possible thanks to the facilities offered by the free digitals database available at https://www.digimorph.org (National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant (EB-0309369) to Timothy Rowe and Thomas E. Macrini) and https://www.morphosource.org (OVert Project: oVert TCN, NSF DBI1702421; MNHN digital repository: curator of mammals in Paleontology in Paris (Guillaume Billet, CR2P), Marta Bellato of the AST-RX platform who made the acquisition, and Kevin Le Verger for share micro-CT data). We also want to thank Laura Montaldo and Denise Campos for their language revision, and finally to the Editor in Chief Darin Croft, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments and corrections greatly enhanced this manuscript. This work was funded by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPyCT, FONCyT), PICT-2016-2665 PICT-2019-3551, PICT-2021-I-A-00271, and Universidad Nacional de Luján (UNLu) CDD-CB 013/19, 14/B293 and CDD-CB 086/20, PI4 2020 to AT.

Funding

This work was funded by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPyCT, FONCyT), PICT-2016–2665 PICT-2019–3551, PICT-2021-I-A-00271, and Universidad Nacional de Luján (UNLu) CDD-CB 013/19, 14/B293 and CDD-CB 086/20, PI4 2020 to AT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Luján (UNLu), Ruta Nacional 5 y Av. Constitución, 6700, Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Adrian Troyelli, Guillermo Hernán Cassini & Juan Carlos Fernicola

  2. Laboratorio de Anatomía y Biología Evolutiva de Vertebrados (LABEV), Universidad Nacional de Luján (UNLu), Ruta Nacional 5 y Av. Constitución, 6700, Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Adrian Troyelli, Guillermo Hernán Cassini & Juan Carlos Fernicola

  3. División Mastozoología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” (MACN-BR), Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Adrian Troyelli & Guillermo Hernán Cassini

  4. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Adrian Troyelli, Guillermo Hernán Cassini, German Tirao, Alberto Boscaini & Juan Carlos Fernicola

  5. IFEG CONICET Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía, Física y Computación, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Haya de La Torre y Medina Allende, X5000HUA, Córdoba, Argentina

    German Tirao

  6. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA – CONICET), Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Int. Güiraldes, 2160, C1428EGA, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Alberto Boscaini

  7. División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” (MACN-BR), Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Juan Carlos Fernicola

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  1. Adrian Troyelli
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  2. Guillermo Hernán Cassini
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  3. German Tirao
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  5. Juan Carlos Fernicola
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Contributions

AT, GHC, AB, and JCF wrote the main manuscript text, GT made the microCT of MACN-Ma specimens, AT segmented the tomographies and prepared figures and tables. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Adrian Troyelli.

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Troyelli, A., Cassini, G.H., Tirao, G. et al. Endocranial cast anatomy of the Early Miocene glyptodont Propalaehoplophorus australis (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Cingulata) and its evolutionary implications. J Mammal Evol 30, 907–922 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-023-09689-x

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