Pachyarmatherium is an extinct large armadillo

Armadillo

Armadillos are New World placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths. The word armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one"...

-like cingulate genus of North

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 from the Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

 and Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 epochs, related to the extant armadillos and the extinct

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

 pampatheres

Pampatheriidae

Pampatheridae is an ancient family, now extinct, of large armadillo-like plantigrade armored xenarthrans. They are related to Glyptodontidae, an extinct family of much larger and more heavily armored xenarthrans, as well as to smaller extant armadillos...

 and glyptodonts

Glyptodontidae

Glyptodonts were large, more heavily armored relatives of extinct pampatheres and modern armadillos.They first evolved during the Miocene in South America, which remained their center of species diversity...

. It was present from 4.9 Mya—300,000 years ago, existing for approximately .

Taxonomy

Pachyarmatherium was named by Downing and White (1995). Its type is P. leiseyi.
It was assigned to Dasypodoidea by Downing and White (1995), and tentatively to Glyptodontidae

Glyptodontidae

Glyptodonts were large, more heavily armored relatives of extinct pampatheres and modern armadillos.They first evolved during the Miocene in South America, which remained their center of species diversity...

 by McKenna and Bell (1997). However, a cladistic

Cladistics

Cladistics is a method of classifying species of organisms into groups called clades, which consist of an ancestor organism and all its descendants . For example, birds, dinosaurs, crocodiles, and all descendants of their most recent common ancestor form a clade...

 analysis performed by de O. Porpino et al. led to the conclusion that Pachyarmatherium is a sister group to a clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 consisting of Glyptodontidae and Pampatheriidae

Pampatheriidae

Pampatheridae is an ancient family, now extinct, of large armadillo-like plantigrade armored xenarthrans. They are related to Glyptodontidae, an extinct family of much larger and more heavily armored xenarthrans, as well as to smaller extant armadillos...

.

Fossil distribution of P. leiseyi

• Kissimmee River site, Tamiami Formation
  Tamiami Formation
  The Tamiami Formation is a Late Miocene to Pliocene geologic formation in the southwest Florida peninsula.-Age:Period: NeogeneEpoch: Late Miocene to Pliocene...
  
  , Okeechobee County, Florida
  Okeechobee County, Florida
  Okeechobee County is a county located in the state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 35,910. According to 2005 U.S. Census estimates, its population had grown to 39,836. The county seat is Okeechobee, Florida. The county comprises the Okeechobee, Florida Micropolitan Statistical Area.-...
  
   ~4.9—1.8 Mya.
• Haile 16A Site
  Haile Quarry site
  The Haile Quarry or Haile sites are an Early Miocene and Pleistocene assemblage of vertebrate fossils located in the Haile quarries, Alachua County, northern Florida. The assemblage was discovered during phosphate mining, which began in the late 1940s. Haile sites are found in the Alachua Formation...
  
  , Alachua County, Florida
  Alachua County, Florida
  Alachua County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 227,120. Its county seat is Gainesville, Florida. Alachua County is the home of the University of Florida and is also known for its diverse culture, local music, and artisans...
  
   ~1.8 Mya.—300,000 years ago.
• Payne Creek Mine, Polk County, Florida
  Polk County, Florida
  Polk County is located in central Florida between the Tampa Bay and Greater Orlando metropolitan areas. The county was established by the state government in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War and named after former United States president James K. Polk. The county seat is Bartow and its...
  
   ~1.8 Mya—300,000 years ago.
• Leisey Shell Pit 1A, Bermont Formation, Hillsborough County, Florida
  Hillsborough County, Florida
  As of the census of 2000, there were 998,948 people, 391,357 households, and 255,164 families residing in the county. The population density was 951 people per square mile . There were 425,962 housing units at an average density of 405 per square mile...
  
  ~1.8—300,000 years ago.