Glyptodonts are an extinct clade of large, heavily armoured armadillos, reaching up to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in height, and maximum body masses of around 2 tonnes.

They had short, deep skulls, a fused vertebral column, and a large bony carapace made up of hundreds of individual scutes.

For example, an Early Miocene glyptodont with many primitive features (comparatively to other species), Parapropalaehoplophorus septentrionalis, was discovered at a now-elevated site in Chile and described in 2007.

[5] After the Isthmus of Panama formed about three million years ago, the genus Glyptotherium spread north as part of the Great American Interchange, as did pampatheres, armadillos and a number of other types of xenarthrans (e.g., ground sloths).

[8] Cladogram after Barasoain et al. 2022:[8] Boreostemma Glyptotherium Glyptodon Propalaehoplophorus Eucinepeltus Cochlops Palaehoplophorus Kelenkura Eosclerocalyptus Plohophorus Pseudohoplophorus Doedicurus Eleutherocercus Neosclerocalyptus Hoplophorus Propanochthus Panochthus The largest glyptodonts like Doedicurus reached a height of 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) and 4 metres (13 ft) in length, with a body mass of over two tonnes.

In many glyptodonts (members of the "Austral clade" other than Propalaehoplophorus and Eucinepeltus), the end of the tail was covered in a completely fused "caudal tube".

[8] The end of caudal tubes of at least some glyptodonts are covered in depressions which in life are suggested to have been anchoring points for horny, likely keratinous spikes, allowing for the tail to function as an effective weapon when swung.