Glyptothere Armor

Glyptotheres evolved in South America, invading North America only in the Latest Pliocene/Earliest Pleistocene along with a variety of other Edentates (specifically, sloths and armadillos).

Glyptotheres were large (think the size of your dinette table), slow and relied on their thick, boney armor for defense. They did have a stout, spikey tail which, no doubt, was used defensively when needed.

The carpace of a glyptothere had 1800 individual osteoderms! All these bits of bone were tightly knit together limiting any flexibility. The rosette pattern on the exterior is diagnostic.

North American Glyptotheres are known from South Carolina and Arizona, but they are most abundant as fossils in Texas and in Florida. This group of animals went extinct with the end of the Pleistocene.