Peltephilus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Oligocene-Mid Miocene (Deseadan-Mayoan)
~{{fossil range|29.0|11.6}}

| image = Peltephilus ferox.JPG

| image_caption = Interpretation of P. ferox

| taxon = Peltephilus

| authority = Ameghino 1887

| type_species = †Peltephilus ferox

| type_species_authority = Ameghino 1887

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• P. depressus {{small|Ameghino 1897}}
• P. ferox {{small|Ameghino 1891 (type)}}
• P. giganteus {{small|Ameghino 1894}}
• P. granosus {{small|Ameghino 1902}}
• P. protervus {{small|Ameghino 1897}}
• P. pumilus {{small|Ameghino 1887}}
• P. strepens {{small|Ameghino 1887}}
• P. undulatus {{small|Ameghino 1897}}

}}

File:Peltephilus ferox skull.jpg

Peltephilus, the horned armadillo, is an extinct genus of armadillo xenarthran mammals that first inhabited Argentina during the Oligocene epoch, and became extinct in the Miocene epoch. Notably, the scutes on its head were so developed that they formed horns. Aside from the horned gophers of North America, it is the only known fossorial horned mammal.{{cite book |editor=Palmer, D. |year=1999 |title=The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher=Marshall Editions|location=London|pages=208–209|isbn=1-84028-152-9}} P. ferox had skull about {{convert|11.7|cm|in}},{{Cite journal |last=Vlachos |first=Evangelos |date=2018 |title=A Review of the Fossil Record of North American Turtles of the Clade Pan-Testudinoidea |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/10.3374/014.058.0201 |journal=Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History |language=en |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=3–94 |doi=10.3374/014.058.0201 |issn=0079-032X|url-access=subscription }} and estimated body mass is around {{convert|11.07|kg|}}.{{Citation |last1=Vizcaíno |first1=Sergio F. |title=Paleobiology of Santacrucian glyptodonts and armadillos (Xenarthra, Cingulata) |date=2012 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/early-miocene-paleobiology-in-patagonia/paleobiology-of-santacrucian-glyptodonts-and-armadillos-xenarthra-cingulata/58CB0068C890DBBD5F3E7AA03E423905 |work=Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation |pages=194–215 |editor-last=Bargo |editor-first=M. Susana |access-date=2023-05-22 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511667381.013 |isbn=978-0-521-19461-7 |last2=Fernicola |first2=Juan C. |last3=Bargo |first3=M. Susana |editor2-last=Kay |editor2-first=Richard F. |editor3-last=Vizcaíno |editor3-first=Sergio F.|url-access=subscription }}

Although it had traditionally been perceived as a carnivore because of its large, triangular-shaped teeth, Vizcaino and Fariña argued in 1997 that Peltephilus was a herbivore.Vizcaino, S. F., & R. A. Farina (1997), Diet and locomotion of the armadillo Peltephilus: a new view. Lethaia, 30, 79-86.