Cabassous centralis ( Miller, 1899 )

Feijó, Anderson & Anacleto, Teresa Cristina, 2021, Taxonomic revision of the genus Cabassous McMurtrie, 1831 (Cingulata Chlamyphoridae), with revalidation of Cabassous squamicaudis (Lund, 1845), Zootaxa 4974 (1), pp. 47-78 : 59-60

Cabassous centralis ( Miller, 1899)

Northern naked-tailed armadillo

Dasypus gymnurus: Frantzius, 1869:309 . Not Tatu gymnurus Olfers, 1818:220 .

X [enurus]. hispidus: True, 1896:345 . Not Dasypus hispidus Burmeister, 1854:287 .

Dasypus [Xenurus] hispidus True, 1896:346 . Not Dasypus hispidus Burmeister, 1854 .

Dasypus gymnurus: Alfaro, 1897:46 . Not Tatus gymnurus Olfers, 1818 .

Xenurus gymnurus: J. A. Allen, 1897:43 . Not Tatus gymnurus Olfers, 1818 .

[ Lysiurus (Lysiurus)] unicinctus: Trouessart, 1898:1147 . Part; not Dasypus unicinctus Linnaeus, 1758:50 .

[ Lysiurus (Lysiurus)] hispidus: Trouessart, 1898:1147 . Part; not Dasypus hispidus Burmeister, 1854 .

Tatoua (Ziphila) centralis Miller, 1899:4 . Type locality “ Chamelicon , Honduras ”.

Tatoua (Ziphila) lugubris: Miller, 1899:6 . Not Ziphila lugubris Gray, 1873:23 .

C [abassous]. (Ziphila) centralis: Palmer, 1899:72 . Name combination.

Cabassous hispidus: Bangs, 1900:89 . Not Dasypus hispidus Burmeister, 1854 .

Cabassous (Ziphila) lugubris: J. A. Allen, 1904:421 . Not Ziphila lugubris Gray, 1873 .

[ Cabassous (Ziphila)] lugubris: Trouessart, 1905:821 . Part; not Ziphila lugubris Gray, 1873 .

Cabassous hispidus: Neveu-Lemaire & Grandidier, 1911:106 , footnote. Not Dasypus hispidus Burmeister, 1854 .

[ Cabassous] lugubris: Yepes, 1928:467 [page 7 of reprint separate]. Part; not Ziphila lugubris Gray, 1873 .

Cabassous lugubris: Moeller, 1968:420 . Part; not Ziphila lugubris Gray, 1873 .

Type. The holotype ( USNM 19464) is an adult female preserved as skull and skin collected on January 8, 1891 by Erich Wittkügel. Originally, the holotype was registered under two collection numbers (skin USNM 19464/ skull USNM 35382) ( Miller 1899; Fisher & Ludwig 2015).

Type locality. Chamelecón , Cortés Department, Honduras .

Diagnosis. The cephalic scutes (32-48) cover the top of the head and exhibit two types of organization: circular with a large and central scute surrounded by smaller scutes or parallel lines with scutes following the sagittal plane of the cephalic shield. The carapace has 11-13 movable bands. The color of the caparace is dark brown to black, with a creamy white stripe around its edges in most of the individuals examined. The color of the venter is pale, but some individuals exhibit a dark spot area in the center, as commonly found in C. unicinctus . The cheek is pinkish and naked or with some small and pale scutes. The ear has a light beige with dark spots or overall dark color; its edge is paler and irregular. The tail has small scales sparsely distributed along its entire length. In most of the examined individuals (61%) the tail has a pale tip. The species is morphologically similar to C. unicinctus , but has an overall smaller size. The cranial measurements most useful to differentiate the two taxa are the zygomatic width, mastoid width, interorbital width, condylonasal length, mandibular length, and ramus width (see Table 2 ).

Geographic distribution. C. centralis has the most northern distribution of the genus ( Figure 8 ), spanning from Chiapas, Mexico ( Cuarón et al. 1989; González-Zamorra et al. 2011; Sánchez-Soto et al. 2020), through Central America into western Andes in Colombia, northwestern Venezuela and Ecuador. Its southernmost record is in the La Esperanza dam, in Manabi province, Ecuador (Diego Tirira, pers. Comm.). Throughout its range, C. centralis inhabits mainly moist broadleaf forests (lowland and montane habitats), but it has also been recorded in dry broadleaf forests in Panama, Magdalena and Sinu Valley regions, in xeric areas of Guajira-Barranquilla, grasslands, coffee agro-ecosystems (Sánchez-Brene & Monges 2019), and pasture and agricultural lands surrounded by forest fragments ( McCarthy 1982; Cuarón et al. 1989; Genoways & Timm 2003; González–Zamorra et al. 2011; Soriero et al. 2018). The absence of records in the central eastern coast of Mexico is likely due to the lack of studies.

Remarks. The only record of this species from east Andes is dubious and comes from Caicara, Monagas in Venezuela ( Wetzel et al. 2008) based on adult male poorly preserved as skin and partially broken skull (USNM 296613). This specimen was originally identified as C. u. unicinctus by Wetzel (1980). We could not undoubtedly identify this individual to species due to its bad preservation, but some measurements (e.g. HB 400 mm) are within the range of C. unicinctus .

Figures

FIGURE 8. Distribution of the five living species of Cabassous in the Neotropical region. Question marks represent unconfirmed occurrence.