Beautiful Armadillo

Beautiful armadillo Dasypus bellus

The extinct beautiful armadillo was a larger cousin of the modern nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), which is still found throughout the southeastern U.S. Several researchers question whether the two animals really represent different species or are simply variations of the same species (e.g., Schubert and Graham 2000), a question that is currently being addressed through ongoing DNA research (Letts and Shapiro 2010).

Beautiful armadillo drawing

A reconstructive sketch of an adult and a juvenile Dasypus bellus, beautiful armadillo. The sketch is by Julie Snider and appeared on the cover of a 1993 issue of the Illinois State Museum's Living Museum (volume 55, number 1). 

Order: 
Xenarthra (Sloths and Armadillos)
Family: 
Dasypodidae (Armadillos)
Statistics: 

Length: 1.2 m (4 ft); McDonald 2005

Weight: 15-20 kg (33-44 lb); McDonald 2005

Status: 
Extinct
Physical Description: 

The beautiful armadillo was nearly twice as large as the modern nine-banded armadillo, but otherwise the two are very similar. As with the modern species, the body of the beautiful armadillo was covered with armor composed of thousands of bony scutes, or osteoderms. These were probably very effective in protecting the slow armadillo from predators.

Habitat: 

Armadillos in general prefer warm, moist environments, and their current range in the central and eastern U.S. is restricted primarily by colder temperatures to the north and aridity to the west.  It is believed that the beautiful armadillo preferred habitats similar to those of the extant nine-banded armadillo, and occupied areas with moist, loose (not frozen) soil, and mild winters.

Diet: 

Although there is no direct evidence of the beautiful armadillo's diet preferences, it likely mirrored that of the nine-banded armadillo, and consisted mainly of insects but also depended on what food resources were available (McDonald 2005). These animals probably ate fruits and small reptiles and mammals as well.

Behavior: 

Remains of D. bellus are often found in cave deposits, and it's likely that these animals used caves for denning in the winter. This may have helped them to survive short periods of unusually cold temperatures, although it is unlikely that they would have survived near zero temperatures for longer than two weeks (McNab 1980). It is likely that these animals shared their modern cousins' pioneering abilities, enabling them to extend their range fairly quickly during favorable climatic periods (Klippel and Parmalee 1984). The remains of several young D. bellus individuals were found preserved with a single adult D. bellus in a cave in Florida, indicating that these animals produced multiple young (Auffenberg 1957).

North American Ice Age Distribution: 

Beautiful armadillo remains have been recovered from Pleistocene aged deposits throughout the southern and central U.S., ranging from Florida to New Mexico and from Virginia to Missouri and southwest Iowa. Most of these remains are from Texas and Florida, which is in keeping with presumed habitat preferences for much of the Pleistocene. It has been postulated that the more northern recoveries reflect intermittent range expansions during periods with cooler summers, warmer winters, and overall stable climatic conditions (Klippel and Parmalee 1984).

Status at the end of the Pleistocene: 

As with many other large mammals, the beautiful armadillo went extinct during the terminal Pleistocene. A reliable terminal date of 11,000 +/- 60 rcybp (11,135-10,740 cal BC) was obtained for this species from a buckler osteoderm (a bony plate from the animal's protective shell) recovered from Little Beaver Cave in Missouri (Schubert and Graham 2000). Deteriorating climate conditions, particularly increased seasonal fluctuations and the onset of colder winters, and decreased availability of appropriate foods were probably contributing factors to this species' demise.

Midwestern Paleontological Finds: 

In the central U.S., Pleistocene-aged beautiful armadillo remains have been recovered from sites near Bloomington, IN, St. Louis, Columbia and Branson, MO, and the southwest corner of Iowa, south of Omaha, NE. All of these remains are thought to date to the Wisconsinan period, although they likely reflect brief spans of locally warmer winters within this glacial period. The remains from the Craigmile site in southwest Iowa represent the northern most recovery of D. bellus remains in North America.

References: 

Auffenberg, W. 1957. A note on an unusually complete skeleton of Dasypus bellus (Simpson) from Florida. Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Science 20(4):233-237.

Klippel, W.E., Parmalee, P. 1984. Armadillos in North American late Pleistocene contexts, pp. 149 60 in H.H. Genoways and M.R. Dawson (eds.). Contributions in Quaternary Vertebrate Paleontology: A Volume In Memorial To John V.. Guilday. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Special Publication 8.

Letts, B., Shapiro, B. 2010. The recovery of ancient DNA from Dasypus bellus provides new possibilities for investigating late Pleistocene mammal response to climate change. Geophysical Research Abstracts, 12: EGU2010-14443-1.

McDonald H. G. 2005. The paleoecology of extinct xenarthrans and the Great American Biotic Interchange. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History 45:313-333.

McNab, B.K. 1980. Energetics and the limits to a temperate distribution in armadillos. Journal of Mammalogy 61:606-627.

Schubert, B., Graham, R. 2000. Terminal Pleistocene armadillo {Dasypus) remains from the Ozark Plateau, Missouri, USA. PaleoBios 20( l):l-6.