Armadillo - AccessScience from McGraw-Hill Education Page 1 of 3 (http://accessscience.com/) Armadillo Article by: Whitaker, John O., Jr. Department of Biology, Center for North American Bat Research and Conservation, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana. Publication year: 2014 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.050900 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.050900) Content • Bibliography • Additional Readings A heavily armored mammal in the family Dasypodidae, order Cingulata (previously Edentata or Xenarthra). Armadillos are characterized by bony dermal plates, which help to protect their bodies. Being mammals, they do have hair, but it is usually sparse and often quite inconspicuous. The anterior and posterior parts of the body are often heavily armored, whereas the midportion of the body is often encircled or partially encircled by rings. These rings are used taxonomically in describing and identifying many of the species of armadillos. The skin of the ventral part of the body is soft. The toes are clawed and used to burrow and dig for food. The hindlimbs always have five toes with claws; the forelimbs may have three, four, or five heavy claws used for digging. The snout is long, and the cylindrical viscous tongue is used in capturing food. The teeth are simple pegs with no roots and no enamel. Most species have about 14 to 18 teeth, but the giant armadillo, Priodontes maximus, has about 80 to 100 small teeth. It reaches a length of approximately 10 feet (3 m), whereas the smallest species, the fairy armadillo, Chlamyphorus truncatus, is about 5–6 in. (12–15 cm) long. When disturbed, many species roll into a ball or wedge themselves into a burrow opening, with the dermal plates helping to protect them. Armadillos occur only in the New World. They range from the southern United States through most of South America. There are 21 species of armadillos in nine genera, but only one, the nine-banded armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus, occurs in North America (see illustration). It is the best-known species. It is adaptable and has extended its range rapidly in the United States: it is now found from Texas and Oklahoma eastward to Florida, Georgia, and southern South Carolina. It feeds on a great variety of invertebrates, including beetles, termites, great numbers of ants, and many other insects such as centipedes, millipedes, and spiders. It also feeds on small vertebrates, including lizards and their eggs, and on some plant foods, such as various fruits, tubers, and subterranean fungi. This species uses scent a great deal in hunting. It places its nose close to the ground and holds its breath (up to 6 min) while digging so as to avoid inhaling dust. It is of public health importance because it is a reservoir host for Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' disease. http://accessscience.com/content/armadillo/050900 3/10/2016 Armadillo - AccessScience from McGraw-Hill Education Page 2 of 3 Nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus). (Photo copyright © Pam Y. Burtt) The nine-banded armadillo has a very unusual life cycle. Four young are born in a den or chamber at the end of the burrow. The young are always of the same sex and are identical quadruplets, all arising from the division of a single egg. The multiple-birth condition, or polyembryony, is unique among mammals. The young are well developed at birth and are weaned at about 8 weeks of age. The genus Dasypus, the long-nosed armadillos, includes six other species in addition to the nine-banded armadillo. The genera Priodontes and Chlamyphorus contain one species each. Species in other genera including only one species are Calyptophractus retusus, the greater fairy armadillo; Euphractus sexcinctus, the six-banded armadillo; and Zaedyus pichiy, the pichi. Other genera are Cabassous, the naked-tailed armadillos, with four species; Chaetophractus, the hairy armadillos, with three species; and Tolypeutes, the three-banded armadillos, with two species. See also: Edentata (/content/edentata/213200); Trypanosomiasis (/content/trypanosomiasis/757394) John O. Whitaker, Jr. Bibliography G. J. Galbreath, Armadillo, pp. 71–79, in Wild Mammals of North America, ed. by J. A. Chapman and G. A. Feldhamer, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1982 A . L. Gardner, Order Cingulata, pp. 94–99, in Mammal Species of the World, 3d ed., ed. by D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2005 G. G. Montgomery, The Evolution and Ecology of Armadillos, Sloths and V. vermilinguas, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1985 R. M. Nowak, Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th ed., vol. 1, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1999 J. O. Whitaker, Jr., and W. J. Hamilton, Jr., Mammals of the Eastern United States, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1998 Additional Readings http://accessscience.com/content/armadillo/050900 3/10/2016 Armadillo - AccessScience from McGraw-Hill Education Page 3 of 3 W. K. Clark, Ecological life history of the armadillo in the eastern Edwards Plateau region, Amer. Midland Naturalist, 46:337–358, 1951 DOI: 10.2307/2421982 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2421982) H. S. Fitch, P. Goodrum, and C. Newman, The armadillo in the southeastern United States, J. Mammal., 33:21–37, 1952 DOI: 10.2307/1375638 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1375638) K. McBee and R. J. Baker, Dasypus novemcinctus, Mammalian Species no. 162, American Society of Mammalogists, 1982 C. M. McDonough and W. J. Loughry, The Nine-Banded Armadillo: A Natural History, vol. 11, Oklahoma University Press, Norman, OK, 2013 R. W. Neck, Possible adaptive significance of certain aspects of armadillo foraging behavior, Southwest. Naturalist, 21:242–243, 1976 DOI: 10.2307/3669965 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3669965) T. A. Vaughan, J. M. Ryan, and N. J. Czaplewski, Mammalogy, 5th ed., Jones and Bartlett Learning, Sudbury, MA, 2011 http://accessscience.com/content/armadillo/050900 3/10/2016 .