1.8" Fossil Bony Armor Scute (Glyptodon/Glyptotherium) - Florida

This is a bony scute (armored plate) of Glyptodon or the related genus Glyptotherium. It was found in Florida and eroded out of a Pleistocene deposit. Glyptodon and Glyptotherium were a large, armored mammals related to an armadillo which lived during the Pleistocene epoch. They grew to about 10 feet in length and weighed up to 2 tons, roughly the size and shape of a VW beetle. Glyptodon is believed to have been a herbivore, grazing on grasses and other plants found near rivers and small bodies of water. It's protective shell was made covered with more than a thousand bony plates, called scutes.