Chlamyphorus truncatuspink fairy armadillo
Geographic Range
Pink fairy armadillos (or pichiciegos) are found in the warm sandy plains of Argentina.
- Biogeographic Regions
- neotropical
Habitat
These armadillos prefer to burrow in very dry soil. They leave their burrows if it is moistened by rainfall. These animals often burrow near anthills, so that they can be close to their food source.
- Terrestrial Biomes
- savanna or grassland
Physical Description
The pink fairy armadillo is the smallest member of the armadillo family, measuring only about five to six inches in length. It is also the only armadillo in which the dorsal shell is almost separate from the body.
- Other Physical Features
- endothermic
- bilateral symmetry
Reproduction
Baby armadillos resemble their parents, but their shells do not completely harden until they are full grown.
- Key Reproductive Features
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
Behavior
The pink fairy armadillo generally lives by itself. The animals stay in their burrrows during the day and feed at night. They are remarkable diggers.
- Key Behaviors
- motile
Communication and Perception
Food Habits
These armadillos are omnivores, but they feed mainly on ants. Occasionally they eat worms, snails, and various plant and root materials.
Economic Importance for Humans
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Not much is known about their economic importance to humans or other animals.
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
None
Conservation Status
The pink fairy armadillos are declining in number due to the spread of human civilization, and they are considered quite rare.
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- IUCN Red List
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Data Deficient
More information
Contributors
Heather Hathaway (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Glossary
- Neotropical
-
living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- tropical savanna and grassland
-
A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.
- savanna
-
A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.
- temperate grassland
-
A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.
References
Walker, Ernest P. 1975. Mammals of the World, Third Edition Volume I. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. pg.1176
Goodwin, George G. 1993. Armadillos. pg.661. Bernard Johnston, ed. Collier's Encyclopedia. P.F. Collier Inc, New York, 780pgs.