The fossil had been misidentified since the 19th century and was later linked to species known from other parts of the Americas.
A 19th-century fossil skull from Lagoa Santa, Brazil, has been reexamined and assigned to a newly proposed species of Glyptotherium, an extinct group of armored mammals. The specimen had previously been linked to other glyptodont species, including Glyptodon clavipes and Glyptotherium cylindricum.
The researchers also reviewed early descriptions by Peter Wilhelm Lund, J. Reinhardt and Winge. They argue that Reinhardt misidentified the skull in 1875, making the name based on that identification invalid under the rules governing zoological names.
A new glyptodont species
The specimen, skull NHMD 2045557, was collected by Lund and first described and illustrated by Reinhardt in 1875. Reinhardt identified it as the type of Hoplophorus euphractus and called it “Schistopleurum euphractum.” The researchers argue that this was a misidentification, not a valid revision of the original species, because the name-bearing type of H. euphractus determines which animal that name refers to under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.
After reviewing the historical literature and reexamining the skull, the researchers propose the new species Glyptotherium deuterophractum. Their comparisons indicate that Brazilian and Venezuelan material has a distinctive combination of cranial, dental, tarsal and osteodermal features that separates it from Glyptotherium texanum and Glyptotherium cylindricum.
