Chaetophractus villosus (Cingulata: Chlamyphoridae)

Abstract

Chaetophractus villosus (Desmarest, 1804) is commonly known as the large hairy armadillo. It is one of two living species of Chaetophractus. Like all armadillos, it bears a dorsal carapace of ossified dermal scutes covered by epidermal scales. Dorsal hair is sparse, long, and black and brown. This semifossorial armadillo inhabits grasslands, savannas, steppes, forests, and even degraded areas such as agroecosystems of Argentina, the “Gran Chaco” of Bolivia and Paraguay, and southern Chile. Chaetophractus villosus is omnivorous–carnivorous. It is listed as “Least Concern” (LC) on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, and is mainly affected by hunting, persecution as an agricultural pest, and vehicle collisions.

Neoichnology of Armadillos: Keys for the Paleoecological and Behavioral Interpretation of Fossil Tetrapod Burrows

“…This is in rough agreement with divergence times estimated by molecular phylogenetic studies for Cingulata and Chlamyphoridae (Gibb et al 2016). The oldest fossil record of Chaetophractus and Zaedyus come from the Pliocene of Argentina (Chapadmalalan SALMA), the species C. villosus is also recorded from that age; while C. vellerosus and Z. pichiy are recorded from younger (Pleistocene) Ensenadan SALMA (Superina and Abba 2014; Carlini et al 2016; Gallo et al 2022) in several provinces of Argentina.…”

“…These species forage aboveground and are thus considered fossorial (after Lessa et al 2008). Chaetophractus villosus (large hairy armadillo or peludo ) is the largest of the studied species (2–5 kg), display a wide geographic distribution, commonly inhabit open areas, and burrows are located in high areas not prone to flooding (Abba et al 2005; Superina and Abba 2018; Gallo et al 2022). Chaetophractus vellerosus (screaming hairy armadillo or piche llorón ) reaches 0.5–1.3 kg and prefers xeric areas with sandy and well-drained soils (Carlini et al 2016).…”

“…Cingulata is a group of primitive Xenarthra, endemic to South America, whose extant representatives are currently included in the families Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae (Wetzel 1985; Redford and Eisenberg 1992; Delsuc et al 2012). Recent molecular and phylogenetic studies suggest that Dasypodidae contains only the genus Dasypus and the remaining living armadillos are included in Chlamyphoridae (Delsuc et al 2016; Gibb et al 2016; Superina and Abba 2018; Gallo et al 2022). Chlamyphoridae includes the Euphractinae ( Euphractus , Chaetophractus , and Zaedyus ), Chlamyphorinae ( Chlamyphorus and Calyptophractus ) and Tolypeutinae ( Priodontes , Cabassus , and Tolypeutes ) (Gibb et al 2016; Superina and Abba 2018).…”

Tractos digestivos de armadillos: una aproximación a sus dimensiones

“…1). Para conseguir una primera aproximación respecto a la relación que existe entre el largo del intestino delgado (ID) y medidas morfométricas, se obtuvieron valores de masa corporal y largo del cuerpo (cabeza y caparazón hasta base de la cola) de seis de los nueve armadillos estudiados a partir de bibliografía disponible (Redford & Wetzel 1985;Abba et al 2011;Abba & Superina 2016;Carlini et al 2016;Superina & Abba 2018a, b;Gallo et al 2022). Se excluyeron las especies Cabassous chacoensis, Chlamyphorus truncatus y D. novemcinctus debido al bajo número de muestras obtenidas (n ≤ 3) de sistemas digestivos.…”