fully understand this behavior, however, will require more information on the sex, age and reproductive Extension of the Distribution of Cabassous status of the individuals involved. unicinctus in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Acknowledgements: We thank Embrapa Pantanal for The southern naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous their logistical support, and Guilherme Mourão for unicinctus, has been reported from northern Bolivia his useful comments and review of this manuscript. in the Departments of Pando, Beni, and north- ern Santa Cruz. The two southernmost localities Arnaud Léonard Jean Desbiez, Durrell Institute of for the species in Bolivia are both in Santa Cruz: at Conservation and Ecology (DICE), Department 16°40′S, 63°45′W, 80 km north of San Carlos, and of Anthropology, University of Kent, Canterbury, 14°45′S, 60°35′W, 52 km south of Campamento Kent CT2 7NS, UK, e-mail:
References Breece, G. A. and Dusi, J. L. 1985. Food habits and home range of the common long-nosed armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus in Alabama. In: The Evolution and Ecology of Armadillos, Sloths, and Vermilinguas, G. G. Montgomery (ed.), pp.419–427. Smithsonian Institution Press, FIGURE 1. An adult female southern naked-tailed armadillo, Cabas- Washington, DC. sous unicinctus, walking across an unpaved road. Guimarães, M. M. 1997. Área de vida, territorialidade e dieta do tatu-bola Tolypeutes tricinctus (Xen- arthra, Dasypodidae), num Cerrado do Brasil Central. Master’s thesis, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília. Loughry, W. J., McDonough, C. M. and Robertson, E. G. 2002. Patterns of anatomical damage in a population of nine-banded armadillos Dasypus novemcinctus (Xenarthra, Dasypodidae). Mam- malia 66(1): 111–122. McDonough, C. M. 1994. Determinants of aggres- sion in nine-banded armadillos. J. Mammal. 75(1): 189–198. McDonough, C. M. and Loughry, W. J. 2001. Arma- dillos. In: The New Encyclopedia of Mammals, D. Macdonald (ed.), pp.796–799. Oxford Univer- sity Press, Oxford. McDonough, C. M. and Loughry, W. J. 2003. Arma- dillos (Dasypodidae). In: Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, Vol. 13 (Mammals II), M. Hutchins (ed.), pp.181–192. Thomson Gale, Farmington Hills, Michigan. FIGURE 2. Distribution of Cabassous unicinctus in Bolivia; the open Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker’s Mammals of the World. circle represents the new locality reported here. (Original image Sixth edition. The Johns Hopkins University courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, reproduced and Press, Baltimore and London. modified with permission of the AMNH Library.)
53 from Bolivia to date, all of which Anderson (1997) marine species, in particular the sharks and rays, of ascribes to the subspecific form C. u. squamicaudis which at least 20% are threatened with extinction. (Lund, 1842). Freshwater fish are in a far worse situation — of 252 species endemic to the Mediterranean region, On 3 March 2001, at 14:00 hrs, an adult female was a full 56% are now classified in threatened cat- observed walking across the unpaved road that runs egories. A total of 7,725 animal species are now from San Jose de Chiquitos to Tucavaca Field Camp recognized as threatened, including 12% of (Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline), in the Department of birds, 32% of amphibians and 42% of turtles Santa Cruz at 18°05.723′S, 60°49.996′W (378 m and tortoises. asl). No measurements could be taken, nor were any special features evident (Fig. 1). The vegetation Of the 4,856 mammal species assessed, 1,093 (23%) of the area is Chiquitano transitional forest — dry were classified as threatened with extinction, of which forest transitional between the Chaco and Cerrado 583 are Vulnerable, 348 are Endangered and 162 are biogeographical provinces. Annual precipitation Critically Endangered, with an additional 70 Extinct is 800 mm and the average annual temperature is and four Extinct in the Wild. The edentates, fortu- 26°C. nately, contribute very little to these ominous totals: only six species are threatened, with another seven This sighting is a new locality for this species, and species classified as Near Threatened, two as Data extends its known distribution more than 300 km to Deficient, and 16 as Least Concern. the southeast towards the Bolivian border with Para- guay (Fig. 2). The most recently described edentate, the pygmy sloth Bradypus pygmaeus, is by far the most threat- Acknowledgements: Thanks to the American Museum ened, now classified as Critically Endangered. The of Natural History Library for permission to modify maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus) remains Endan- and reproduce Fig. 2, originally published as Fig. 514 gered, while Chaetophractus nationi, Dasypus pilosus, from Anderson (1997). Priodontes maximus and Tolypeutes tricinctus are con- sidered Vulnerable. Several species were downgraded Leonardo Maffei, Casilla 3800, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. from their prior status: the pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus) changed from Endangered Reference to Near Threatened, the giant armadillo (Priodontes Anderson, S. 1997. Mammals of Bolivia, taxonomy maximus) moved from Endangered to Vulnerable, and distribution. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. (231): and both the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) 1–652. and the greater fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus retusus) shifted from Vulnerable to Near Threatened. Some of these changes resulted from application of the most recently revised Red List criteria (IUCN, 2001) and may not reflect actual improvements to conditions in NEWS the wild. These most recent assessments are the result of the Edentates in the 2006 IUCN Red List 2004 Edentate Species Assessment Workshop, led by Dr. Gustavo Fonseca and with expert contributions from Agustín Abba, Teresa Anacleto, Adriano Chi- The IUCN/SSC 2006 Red List of Threatened Species arello, Erika Cuéllar, Paula Lara-Ruiz, Jim Loughry, was launched online in May 2006, covering a total of Dennis Meritt Jr., Flávia Miranda, Gustavo Porini, 16,119 species categorized as Vulnerable, Endangered Anthony B. Rylands, Rafael Samudio Jr., Mariella or Critically Endangered. There are now 784 species Superina and Sergio Vizcaíno. officially considered to be Extinct, with an additional 65 which exist only in cultivation or captivity. In Craig Hilton-Taylor, Red List Programme Offi- 2003, by comparison, the Red List included 12,259 cer, Species Survival Programme, 219c Huntingdon species threatened with extinction, with 762 officially Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK, Gustavo A. B. da extinct and 58 lost from the wild. Fonseca and John M. Aguiar, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, In addition to its broad coverage of terrestrial spe- 1919 M Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC cies, the 2006 Red List added assessments of selected 20036, USA.
54 Edentata no. 7 • May 2006