SOUTHERN THREE-BANDED ARMADILLO Tolypeutes matacus
Smith P 2007 - FAUNA Paraguay Handbook of the Mammals of Paraguay Number 7 Southern Three-banded Armadillo Tolypeutes matacus
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The popular belief that all Armadillos roll themselves into a ball when threatened is quite incorrect, in fact this habit is seen only in the Three-banded Armadillos. Though still common in the Chaco Three-banded Armadillos are globally near threatened, their defence mechanism and relatively slow locomotion making them one of the easiest armadillos to catch for both humans and predators (The Guaraní consider them the most tasty of the armadillos, but how much this has to do with wishful thinking I can´t say!!). Empty shells, their insides scooped out, are a common sight wherever these Armadillos occur.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - (FPMAM94PH) Adult, PN Defensores del Chaco, Departamento Boquerón (Sjeff Ollers October 2009).
FIGURE 2 - (FPMAM95PH) Head detail, PN Tte Enciso, Departamento Boquerón (Marcelo Bombaci October 2007).
FIGURE 3 - (FPMAM96PH) Adult, Ruta Trans-Chaco km650 (Paul Smith July).
FIGURE 4 - (FPMAM1187PH) Adult, Estancia Golondrina, Departamento Presidente Hayes (Sergio Rios June 2017).
FIGURE 5 - (FPMAM916PH) Defensive posture lateral, Tunokojai Indigenous Reserve, Departamento Presidente Hayes (Paul Smith November 2010).
FIGURE 6 - (FPMAM917PH) Defensive posture frontal, Tunokojai Indigenous Reserve, Departamento Presidente Hayes (Paul Smith November 2010).
FIGURE 7 - (FPMAM97PH) Defensive posture of the same specimen as (FPMAM96PH) (Paul Smith July).
FIGURE 8 - (FPMAM98PH) Head plate, PN Tte Enciso, Departamento Boquerón (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 9 - (FPMAM99PH) Tail, PN Tte Enciso, Departamento Boquerón (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 10 - (FPMAM330PH) Melanistic form, Departamento Presidente Hayes (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org)
FIGURE 11 - (FPMAM100PH) Faeces, PN Tte Enciso, Departamento Boquerón (Paul Smith July 2006).
FIGURE 12 - (FPMAM1105PH) Footprints, Loma Plata, Departamento Boquerón (Paul Smith October 2012).
VIDEO - (FPMAM101VI) Adult, Central Chaco (Paul Smith September)
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Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this page were taken by Paul Smith, Sjeff Ollers, Sergio Rios and Marcelo Bombaci and are used with their permission.
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:

Abba A, Cuellar E, Meritt D, Porini G, Superina M, members of the Edentate Specialist Group 2006. Tolypeutes matacus. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 23 December 2007.
Brooks DM 1995 - Distribution and Limiting Factors of Edentates in the Paraguayan Chaco - Edentata 2: p10-15.
Ceresoli N, Jimenez GT, Duque EF 2003 - Datos Morfómetricos de los Armadillos del Complejo Ecológico de Sánz Peña, Provincia del Chaco, Argentina - Edentata 5: p35-37.
Erxleben JCP 1777 - Systema Regni Animalis per Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Varietates cun Synonimia et Historial Animalium: Classis 1 Mammalia - Weygandianus, Leipzig.
Myers P, Espinosa R, Parr CS, Jones T, Hammond GS, Dewey A 2006 - The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed December 2007.
CLICK THE HANDBOOK LINK ABOVE TO DOWNLOAD PDFS OF THE SPECIES ACCOUNTS FOR THE FAUNA PARAGUAY HANDBOOK OF PARAGUAYAN MAMMALS VOLUME 2: XENARTHRA.