Habitat loss and distribution of Argentina’s pichiciego Chlamyphorus truncatus (Xenartra, Dasypodidae), the world’s smallest armadillo.

BORGHI, C.; CAMPOS, C.; GIANNONI, S.; CAMPOS, V.; SILLERO-ZUBIRI, C.

Bahía Blanca

Congreso; XXIII Jornadas Argentinas de Mastozoología; 2010

Chlamyphorus truncatus was described by Harlan (1835) who recognized its local name “pichiciego” (pink fairy armadillo). It is endemic to central Argentina and completely subterranean. Our goal was to provide information about habitat conservation and distribution of pichiciego. Distribution, collection date and recurrent records were obtained from museum and private collections, animals observed and/or captured by rural people or researchers, from interviews of rural people and from the literature. The records were grouped in categories: without a clear date; prior to 1980 (historical distribution); between 1981-1993 (recent records); and from 1994 up to the present (current records) and, afterwards all records were plotted. In order to estimate habitat loss for the species, we used 47 records clearly located where pixel size was lower than 0.5m. We selected a 10-km2 area around each site, using Google Earth images and software, in order to detect habitat degradation (urbanized areas, agricultural lands) and natural habitat. We collected a total of 95 records. Most (60%) corresponded to data obtained from museum collections, 22% from interviews, 17 % came from the literature and live animals, and 1 % from field work. Most records came from the provinces of Mendoza (58%), San Luis (11%), La Pampa (10%), Buenos Aires (9%) and San Juan (5%). As measured by satellite images, 83% of record sites of the species have some level of habitat degradation, and habitat loss reaches at least 33% of the area around record sites, 27% due to agricultural activities, and 6% due to urban use. We advocate additional field studies to better understand the ecology of this species, including the effect of agricultural activities and livestock farming, the impact of the invasive wild boar and the predation of domestic cats and dogs on their populations as the most important effects to be assessed.