Glyptotherium

Glyptotherium is an extinct genus of glyptodont, a group of extinct mammals related to the armadillos living from the Middle to Late Pleistocene, approximately 1.8 million to 12,000 years ago (AEO). The genus is considered an example of North American megafauna, of which most have become extinct. "Glyptotherium" may have been wiped out by changing climate or human interference.
Description.
Like its living relative, the armadillo, "Glyptotherium" had a shell which covered its entire body, similar to a turtle. However, unlike the carapace of a turtle, the "Glyptotherium" shell was made up of hundreds of small hexagonal scales. Some species grew up to long and its armor may have weighed up to a ton.
Paleoecology.
Remains of "Glyptotherium" species have been found in tropical and subtropical regions of Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, and the southern United States; from Florida and South Carolina to Arizona. There is no direct evidence of humans preying on this North American glyptodont. "Smilodon" may have occasionally preyed upon "Glyptotherium", based on a skull from one "Glyptotherium" fossil recovered from Pleistocene deposits in Arizona bearing the distinctive elliptical puncture marks that best match those of the machairodont cat, indicating that the predator successfully risked biting into bone to kill the armored herbivore, the only option for a predator intent on hunting such heavily armored animals. The "Glyptotherium" in question was a juvenile, with a still-developing head shield, making it far more vulnerable to the cat's attack. "Glyptotherium" was named by Osborn in 1903, assigned to Glyptodontinae by Downing and White in 1995 and to Glyptodontidae by Osborn (1903), Brown (1912), Carroll (1988), Cisneros (2005) and Mead et al. (2007).