The Deseado Formation of PatagoniaLoomis, Frederic Brewster
Science
The Deseado Formation of Patagonia
Loomis, Frederic Brewster
Paleontology -- Patagonia (Argentina and Chile)
This is the most frequently occurring genus in the Deseado, but is as
yet represented only by isolated plates. The genus is distinguished
by thick, relatively long and narrow, movable plates, each overlapped
by about a third of its length. The plates of the pelvic buckler are
shorter and thicker, the exposed surface of each being ornamented by a
figure compared by Ameghino to a flask (see fig. 131), which figure is
more distinct on the rear, fading away toward the front. On the plates
of the pelvic buckler this figure is more accentuated, and from it, on
either side, radiate two furrows dividing the surface into several (4
to 5) areas. The entire surface of each plate is irregularly punctate.
=Proeutatus lagenaformis= Ameghino
P. sp? Amegh., 1895, Bol. Inst. Geog. Argen., t. 15, p. 660.
P. lagenaformis Amegh., 1897, Bol. Inst. Geog. Argen., t. 18, p. 507.
[Illustration: Fig. 131. _A_, movable plate; _B_ and _C_, plates from
pelvic buckler—natural size.]
On the Chico del Chubut River, west of Puerto Visser, we found nine
specimens of this species, all fragmentary, though one consists of over
fifty more or less broken plates, mostly from the pelvic buckler. This
is the only species of the genus from the Deseado, and corresponds to
the description above. A movable plate generally measures about 28
mm. long by 10 mm. wide, and has four large piliferous pits on the
posterior margin. A plate of the pelvic buckler varies greatly in
size, but is always thick and has two to eight piliferous holes on the
posterior margin. A typical plate measures 20 mm. long by 10 mm. wide.
=Prozaedius= Ameghino
Zaedius Amegh., in part, 1889, Act. Acad. Nac. Cordoba, t. 5, p. 867.
Prozaedius Amegh., 1891, Revista Argen. Hist. Nat., t. 1, p. 327.
Dasypus Lydekker, in part, 1894, Anal. Mus. La Plata, t. 3, p. 55.
Prozaedius Scott, 1903-5, Reports Princeton Patagonian Exp., vol. 5, p.
69.
Of this little genus, which is so strikingly like the living _Zaedius_,
we found a carapace with ten rows of movable plates in place, parts
of four rows of fixed plates from the pelvic buckler, and some caudal
vertebrae. The genus is distinguished by its thin plates, there being
fourteen bands of movable plates, and eight rows in the pelvic buckler.
The movable plates are narrow, each overlapped about a fourth of its
length, and have a faint ornamentation, with no piliferous pits except
on the posterior margin. The fixed plates are similar, except that they
are shorter, and have the ornamentation more accentuated, with radial
grooves. Ameghino has described three species as follows:
P. impressus, sculpture little accentuated, post. piliferic pits
rudimentary.
P. planus, sculpture more accentuated, post. piliferic pits lacking.
P. tenuissimus, very small.
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