Taxonomic revision of the genus Cabassous McMurtrie, 1831 (Cingulata Chlamyphoridae), with revalidation of Cabassous squamicaudis (Lund, 1845)
Author
Feijó, Anderson
0000-0002-4643-2293
Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 10001, China. andefeijo @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 4643 - 2293;
andefeijo@gmail.com
Author
Anacleto, Teresa Cristina
Coordenação de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Caixa Postal 08, 78690 - 000, Nova Xavantina, Mato Grosso, Brazil.
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-05-19
4974
1
47
78
journal article
6239
10.11646/zootaxa.4974.1.2
f5bc42a3-becd-422f-ad3d-4759a380c7f9
1175-5326
4773355
BBD9649F-D877-40DE-B606-04CFFAE4EA30
Cabassous tatouay
(
Desmarest, 1804
)
Greater naked-tailed armadillo
lor[icatus]. tatouay
Desmarest, 1804:28
.
[Dasypus] dasycercus
G.
Fischer, 1814:124
.
Type
locality “Paraquaia”.
[
Dasypus]
gymnurus
Illiger, 1815:108
.
Nomen nudum
.
T[atus] gymnurus
Olfers, 1818:220
.
Type
locality “
Paraguay
”.
Tatusia tatouay
:
Lesson, 1827:311
. Name combination.
Dasypus gymnurus
:
Rengger, 1830:290
. Name combination.
Xenurus nudicaudis
Lund, 1839a:231
.
Nomen nudum
.
Xenurus nudicaudus
Lund, 1839b:81
(preprint of 1841b:143).
Type
locality “Rio das Velhas,
Minas Gerais
,
Brazil
” (
Wetzel
et al
. 2008:150
).
Dasypus 12-cinctus
:
Burmeister, 1854:282
. Variant spelling of, but not
Dasypus duodecim cinctus
Schreber (1774
:Pl. lxxv).
Xenurus tatouay
:
Gervais, 1855:254
. Name combination.
Xenurus unicinctus
:
Gray, 1865:378
. Part; Not
Dasypus unicinctus
Linnaeus, 1758
.
Xenurus gymnurus
:
Fitzinger, 1871:242
. Name combination.
Tatoua unicincta
:
Miller, 1899:2
. Not
Dasypus unicinctus
Linnaeus, 1758
.
Xenurus duodecimcinctus
:
Winge, 1915:32
. Not
Dasypus duodecim cinctus
Schreber, 1774
.
D[asypus]. nudi-cauda
Larrañaga, 1923:343
.
Type
locality “Provincia Paracuarensi”, based on
Azara (1802:131)
.
Cabassous tatouay
:
Cabrera, 1958:219
. First use of current name combination.
Cabassous gymnurus
: Ximénez, Langguth, & Praderi, 1972:14
. Name combination.
Cabassous duodecimcinctus
:
Paula-Couto, 1973:267
. Name combination.
Type
.
Loricatus
tatouay
of
Desmarest (1804:28)
was based on the
“Le
tatouay
” of
Azara (1801:155)
. Because no armadillo specimen from Azara’s expedition is known to have survived (
Feijó
et al.
2018
), the species currently lacks a name-bearing
type
.
Type
locality
.
Desmarest (1804)
did not mention the
type
locality but
Cabrera (1958)
defined as
Paraguay
, at 27
°
latitude south, which crosses the
Ñeembucú
,
Misiones
and
Itapúa
departments (
Wetzel 1980:349
).
Diagnosis
. This species can be easily differentiated from other congeneric taxa by its large size (
Table 1
). The cephalic scutes (35-57) exhibit a concentric organization surrounding a large, central and hexagonal scute (
Figure 6
). Small scutes are sparsely distributed in the region around the eye and cheek. The carapace varies from yellowish-brown, light brown to blackish, with 12-14 movable bands. The tail has sparse small scutes mainly distributed on the dorsal and distal region. In some of the examined individuals (~20%), the tail exhibits a pale tip. The palate is long and the pterygoid extends to the basisphenoid-basioccipital suture, aligned with the squamosal root of the zygomatic (
Figure 4e
).
Geographic distribution
.
Cabassous tatouay
is distributed from
Brazil
to
Uruguay
(
Figure 8
), including eastern
Paraguay
(
Smith 2009
) and northern
Argentina
, in Misiones and
Corrientes
(
Abba
et al.
2012
;
Varela
et al.
2019
). In
Brazil
, the species occurs in northeastern, central and southern portions of the country. In the Brazilian Amazon region, the available records are inconclusive as they are based on
two specimens
housed at the British Natural History Museum (BMNH) that indicate only “State of Pará”.
Wetzel (1980
,
1985
) tentatively assigned them to southern Pará. Until recently, the northernmost limit of
C. tatouay
was placed at
Minas Gerais state
(
Wetzel
et al.
2008
;
Superina
et al.
2013
;
Hayssen 2014c
;
Gonzalez & Abba 2014
;
Chiarello
et al
. 2015
), but this species was recorded further north in
Paraíba
,
Pernambuco
and
Ceará
states, northeastern
Brazil
(
Feijó & Langguth 2013
). On the other hand, the southernmost limit of
C. tatouay
was once considered
Buenos Aires
,
Argentina
(
Redford & Eisenberg 1992
;
Wetzel 1985
;
Wetzel
et al.
2008
) based on
Moeller (1968)
. However, no reliable record of the species is known from
Buenos Aires
(e.g.
Abba & Vizcaíno 2008
;
Varela
et al.
2019
). Excluding this dubious record, the southern distributional limit lies at
Maldonado
,
Uruguay
(
Gonzalez & Lanfranco 2012
;
Queirolo 2016
).
Although
C. tatouay
has been recorded in both forested and open biomes, it seems to prefer forested habitats. Even when in open biomes, it was recorded in more humid areas, as in the montane forest of
Brejos de altitude
in the Caatinga domain (
Feijó & Langguth 2013
), xeromorphic forest in Cerrado (CMNX 77), and mountain region in Uruguayan savannas (
Gonzalez & Lanfranco 2012
;
Queirolo 2016
). Evidence shows that
C. tatouay
might tolerate secondary habitat, but not degraded or agricultural lands (
Aguiar 2004
), with only a single record in manioc plantation (AMNH 133314).