First records of Brazilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus, Mammalia, Cingulata, Chlamyphoridae) predation by jaguar (Panthera onca, Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae)

Rodolfo Assis Magalhães,Flávio Henrique Guimarães Rodrigues,Liana Mara Mendes De Sena

doi:10.11606/1807-0205/2021.61.58

Rodolfo Assis Magalhães, Flávio Henrique Guimarães Rodrigues + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.11606/1807-0205/2021.61.58

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Abstract

The jaguar Panthera onca and the Brazilian three-banded armadillo Tolypeutes tricinctus are two threatened mammals that coexist in the Caatinga dry forests and the Cerrado savannas of Brazil. Yet, to the best of our knowledge, interactions between these species have not been reported in the literature. Here, we present the first records of P. onca predation on T. tricinctus from two different areas in the Caatinga in northeastern Brazil. We showed that P. onca can pierce the hard carapace of T. tricinctus, which may be possible due to its distinctly strong bite and associated predation behavior. We argue that P. onca may be the most adapted non-human predator to feed on T. tricinctus, and that the smaller body sizes of P. onca individuals in the Caatinga may increase their likelihood to feed on smaller prey, including T. tricinctus. Thus, the originality of our records is probably more related to insufficient research in the areas where these species coexist than to the rarity of this interaction.

Highlights

The jaguar Panthera onca (Linnaeus, 1758) and the Brazilian three-banded armadillo Tolypeutes tricinctus (Linnaeus, 1758) are two threatened mammals that coexist in the Caatinga and Cerrado domains in Brazil (Bocchiglieri et al, 2010; Astete et al, 2017)
The records presented here were obtained in two areas situated in the Caatinga, a semiarid phytogeographical domain predominantly covered by Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTF) distributed throughout northeast Brazil (Silva et al, 2017)
The other record was opportunistically obtained at the Serra da Capivara National Park, a 1,291‐km2 Protected Area located in the state of Piauí, Brazil (Fig. 1), during field activities to document the distribution of armadillos

Summary

Introduction

The jaguar Panthera onca (Linnaeus, 1758) and the Brazilian three-banded armadillo Tolypeutes tricinctus (Linnaeus, 1758) are two threatened mammals that coexist in the Caatinga and Cerrado domains in Brazil (Bocchiglieri et al, 2010; Astete et al, 2017). We present the first records of T. tricinctus predation by P. onca from two areas in northeastern Brazil, thereby providing evidence of a predator-prey relationship between these two threatened species and contributing to the knowledge on P. onca diet and T. tricinctus natural predators.

Results

Conclusion