| Comaphorus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Cingulata |
| Family: | Chlamyphoridae |
| Subfamily: | †Glyptodontinae |
| Genus: | †Comaphorus Ameghino, 1886 |
| Type species | |
| Comaphorus concisus Ameghino, 1886 | |
Comaphorus is adubiousextinctgenus ofglyptodont. It lived during theLate Miocene inArgentina, but only one fossil has ever been referred to the animal.[1][2]
This genus is only known from only a single dorsal carapace osteoderm that has since been lost. Like all glyptodonts, it probably had a large dorsal carapace made of fused osteoderms. Ameghino diagnosed the taxon based on very general characteristics, such as the dorsal surface being raised in the center, bearing twenty perforations lost in the thickness of the osteoderm that didn’t lead to similar perforations present on the internal surface.[2][1] These characters are very vague and due to the holotype being missing, the taxon is still anomen dubium. Based on its phylogenetic position in Doedicurinae,Comaphorus likely was one of the larger known glyptodonts with a robust, fused tail sheath.[3][1]
Comaphorus concisus was first described in 1886 byFlorentino Ameghino, based on a single dorsal carapace osteoderm that had been collected from theUpper Miocene strata of theItuzaingo Formation inEntre Rios Province,Argentina.[1][2] Ameghino believed that the genus was closely related to the Pleistocene genusDoedicurus andPlaxhaplous, two genera that have since been classified in the tribe Doedicurini along withEleutherocercus.[4][2] However, the type osteoderm has since been lost[5] and the diagnostic features used by Ameghino have been observed in several other glyptodonts and are not specific, making this taxon anomen dubium.[1] Despite this, the osteoderm’s features still indicate that it was a close relative ofDoedicurus and other doedicurines.[6][7]
