The southern naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous unicinctus, has been reported from northern Bolivia in the Departments of Pando, Beni, and northern Santa Cruz. The two southernmost localities for the species in Bolivia are both in Santa Cruz: at 16°40′S, 63°45′W, 80 km north of San Carlos, and 14°45′S, 60°35′W, 52 km south of Campamento Los Fierros. Only four specimens have been recorded from Bolivia to date, all of which Anderson (1997) ascribes to the subspecific form C. u. squamicaudis (Lund, 1842).
On 3 March 2001, at 14:00 hrs, an adult female was observed walking across the unpaved road that runs from San Jose de Chiquitos to Tucavaca Field Camp (Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline), in the Department of Santa Cruz at 18°05.723′S, 60°49.996′W (378 m asl). No measurements could be taken, nor were any special features evident (Fig. 1). The vegetation of the area is Chiquitano transitional forest — dry forest transitional between the Chaco and Cerrado biogeographical provinces. Annual precipitation is 800 mm and the average annual temperature is 26°C.
FIGURE 1.
An adult female southern naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous unicinctus, walking across an unpaved road.
This sighting is a new locality for this species, and extends its known distribution more than 300 km to the southeast towards the Bolivian border with Paraguay (Fig. 2).
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the American Museum of Natural History Library for permission to modify and reproduce Fig. 2, originally published as Fig. 514 from Anderson (1997).
