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CHACO NAKED-TAILED ARMADILLO Cabassous chacoensis CHACO
Smith P 2008 - FAUNA Paraguay Handbook of the Mammals of Paraguay Number 25 Chaco Naked-tailed Armadillo Cabassous chacoensis
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Naked-tailed armadillos are highly-fossorial in behaviour and rarely seen. They can be immeditaely recognised by the enormous, sickle-shaped central claw - an adaptation for digging - and the slender tail which lacks armour. This is the smaller of the two species found in Paraguay and is locally distributed in the Chaco. They are found in open habitats with loose soil and often feed underground, invading ant and termite mounds from the inside.
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FIGURE 1 - (FPMAM915PH) Adult specimen, Jakob Unger Museum, Filadelfia, Departamento Boquerón (Paul Smith November 2010).
FIGURE 2 - (FPMAM81PH) Juvenile dorsal, Fortín Toledo, Departamento Boquerón (Hugo del Castillo August 2004).
FIGURE 3 - (FPMAM82PH) Same individual lateral (Hugo del Castillo August 2004).
CLICK THE HANDBOOK LINK ABOVE TO DOWNLOAD PDFS OF THE SPECIES ACCOUNTS FOR THE FAUNA PARAGUAY HANDBOOK OF PARAGUAYAN MAMMALS VOLUME 2: XENARTHRA.
LINKS TO DOWNLOADABLE OPEN ACCESS REFERENCES USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THE FAUNA PARAGUAY HANDBOOK OF THE MAMMALS OF PARAGUAY SPECIES ACCOUNT FOR THIS SPECIES:

Myers P, Espinosa R, Parr CS, Jones T, Hammond GS, Dewey A 2006 - The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed December 2007.