Priodontes Research Articles

Structure and function in armadillo limbs (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Dasypodidae)

AbstractArmadillos are a very diverse group ranging from non‐fossorial Tolypeutini through to the powerful diggers like the giant armadillo Priodontes maximus to the totally subterranean Chlamyphorini. A previous study demonstrated a close relationship between the relative length of the olecranon of the ulna (index of fossorial ability, IFA) and the fossorial ability of armadillos. This study examines a wide range of limb proportions to explore the biomechanical correlates with fossorial ability. The study demonstrates that the indices of the forelimb (brachial index, shoulder moment index and IFA) do correlate well with digging habits, but also reveals some interesting exceptions, particularly in the most fossorial and most cursorial forms. On the other hand, the hindlimb indices apparently do not correlate with digging habits, but seem to be influenced more by body size. The correlations among the forelimb indices are quite strong and positive but correlations between forelimb and hindlimb indices are negative or very low. It is apparent that there is still much to be learned about structure and function in armadillos.

Hábito alimentar do tatu-canastra (Xenarthra, Dasypodidae) em uma área de cerrado do Brasil Central

The diel of the giant armadillo - Priodontes maximus (Kerr,1792) - was studied in the field at Fazenda Sao Miguel, Unai, Minas Gerais, Brazil, through 82 samples collected at foraging excavations and 25 fecal samples. In both types of sample the most common item was insects (Isoptera e Hymenoptera) and, in less quantity, plant fragments and orhers invertebrates (Aranae, Blattaria, Coleoptera, Diplopoda, Scorpiones). These data suggest the giant armadillo is a specialist on insects with an opportunistic foraging strategy.

Conservation and development alliances with the Kayapó of south-eastern Amazonia, a tropical forest indigenous people

Legally recognized Indian reserves of Brazilian Amazonia span over 100 million ha of largely intact forest and are potentially valuable for biodiversity conservation. An important example is provided by the Kayapó territories which span more than 13 million ha in Pará and Mato Grosso, Brazil, and protect a unique and vulnerable Amazonian forest type that is poorly represented in existing nature reserves. The Kayapó of southern Pará have stopped invasion of their lands by the most perverse threats to Amazonian forests, but they have become involved extensively in the sale of illegal logging concessions for the high-value timber species mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). In 1992, the non-governmental organization Conservation International do Brasil (CI-Brasil) began a conservation and development project with the Kayapó community of A’Ukre with the objective of providing economic alternatives to logging and protecting a population of mahogany trees. This paper demonstrates the conservation benefits that can be achieved by supporting sustainable development of indigenous peoples in the Amazon. Specifically, we: (1) evaluate the ecological importance of the Kayapó reserves from a biodiversity conservation viewpoint, (2) evaluate the conservation success of the CI-Brasil project and test whether the implementation of the conservation alliance between A’Ukre and CI-Brasil satisfies common pool resource principles, and (3) propose a model for expanding the small-scale conservation results achieved by the CI-Brasil project to all Kayapó territories. Several mammals (Tayassu pecari, Pteronura brasiliensis, Priodontes maximus, Panthera onca) and at least one bird species (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) listed as endangered were regularly encountered within 15 km of A’Ukre. Taxa encountered at relatively high densities in the project area included large cracids, lowland tapir, and white-lipped peccary, indicating an ecosystem that is not severely impacted by hunting. Harvest offtakes of mahogany averaged 0.44 stems ha−1 within groves and 0.13 stems ha−1 at the landscape level. We estimate that 85% of the fruiting population of Swietenia macrophylla has been removed in harvested Kayapó territories in Pará. We found Kayapó social organization in A’Ukre to meet criteria of successful common pool resource institutions. The CI-Brasil project resulted in protection of an intact mahogany population in 8000 ha of forest maintained by the community for ecological research purposes and mahogany preservation. Our analysis attributes the success of the conservation alliance with A’Ukre to: (1) direct benefits accruing to all members of the community, (2) fulfilment of criteria for development of common pool resource institutions, and (3) long-term commitment of an external agency. We propose that by implementing these three elements elsewhere, the modest conservation result achieved at A’Ukre could be expanded to include the entire Kayapó nation and thereby contribute to conservation of more than 13 000 000 ha of forest and cerrado in the south-eastern Amazon.

Variation in skull morphology and mastication in the fossil giant armadillos Pampatherium spp. and allied genera (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Pampatheriidae), with comments on their systematics and distribution

ABSTRACT The masticatory apparatus of Pampatherium typum, P. humboldtii, and Holmesina paulacoutoi are analysed based on skull, mandibular and dental morphology and the inferred masticatory musculature. Comparison of the apparatus with those of other pampatheres suggests a trend toward increasing ability to process resistant vegetation from Holmesina through Pampatherium. The mechanical design of the apparatus among these pampatheres is nearly identical and has apparently undergone only minor variation since pampatheres first appear in the fossil record, suggesting strong phylogenetic constraint in the form of skeletal and dental elements. Main differences among taxa occur in features associated with the musculature, and thus the primary means for differentiation in masticatory function, which is correlated with diet, were changes resulting in differential force imput. Although the taxonomic status of some specimens is equivocal, indications are that the Plio-Pleistocene paleobiogeographic distribution of pampatheres is correlated with masticatory function (and hence diet), with P. typum, the species best adapted for grinding coarse vegetation, occurring in the more arid Pampean regions of South America. H. occidentalis, although a capable grinder, was the least suited to coarse vegetation. It is known from deposits near the current Peru-Ecuador border, an area of humid lowlands during glacial maxima. H. paulacoutoi and P. humboldtii lie between these extremes, with the latter better adapted for abrasive vegetation. These pampatheres have been found at the same localities, mainly through Brazil, which was characterized by wetter conditions than the Pampas. Their presence together suggests either sympatry or occupation of the same region during different times, with their ranges moving either north (P. humboldtii) or south (H. paulacoutoi) in a transition zone that may have shifted in response to changes in glacial maxima and minima.

On the Use of the Time Axis for Ecological Separation: Diel Rhythms as an Evolutionary Constraint

On the Use of the Time Axis for Ecological Separation: Diel Rhythms as an Evolutionary Constraint

Impact of wildfires on the megafauna of Emas National Park, central Brazil

AbstractThis study evaluates the impact of two wildfires, in 1994 and 1995, on the large mammal fauna of Emas National Park, central Brazil. The 1994 fire burned 100 per cent of the park's grassland and after the fire, in a c. 2000-ha survey area, the authors found 16 giant anteaters Myrmecophaga tridactyla, two giant armadillos Priodontes maximus and one tapir Tapirus terrestris that had died in the fire. The 1995 fire burned 15 per cent of the park's grassland and no dead animals were found in a 220-ha survey area. The authors discuss the possible long-term ecological consequences of wildfires on the large mammal fauna of Emas, with a special focus on the giant anteater population, which is particularly susceptible to fires. They recommend a fire management programme, which would include controlled burns on a rotational basis in different sections of the park. The programme would also improve the availability of food for herbivores and control the spread of alien grass species.

Impact of wildfires on the megafauna of Emas National Park, central Brazil

This study evaluates the impact of two wildfires, in 1994 and 1995, on the large mammal fauna of Emas National Park, central Brazil. The 1994 fire burned 100 per cent of the park's grassland and after the fire, in a c. 2000-ha survey area, the authors found 16 giant anteaters Myrmecophaga tridactyla, two giant armadillos Priodontes maximus and one tapir Tapirus terrestris that had died in the fire. The 1995 fire burned 15 per cent of the park's grassland and no dead animals were found in a 220-ha survey area. The authors discuss the possible long-term ecological consequences of wildfires on the large mammal fauna of Emas, with a special focus on the giant anteater population, which is particularly susceptible to fires. They recommend a fire management programme, which would include controlled burns on a rotational basis in different sections of the park. The programme would also improve the availability of food for herbivores and control the spread of alien grass species.

Riqueza de mamíferos de grande e médio porte do Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor (Acre, Brasil)

The objective of the present study was to characterize the richness (number of species) of large and medium-sized mammals, and the antropic threats in the Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor (PNSD). In 31 days data were collected through direct observations or evidences (bones, hairs, vocalizations and tracks) along pre-existing trails distributed in different types of vegetation. Wild mammals captured by local people were also considered. They were found 44 species of terrestrial mammals (with the exception of small mammals and bats) and two species of cetaceans, representing 73% of the total predicted, according to the literature and information of local dwellers were registered in PNSD. They exist in the area two species classified by IUCN (1996) as Endangered [Cacajao calvus rubicundus (I. Geoffroy, 1806) and Priodontes maximus (Kerr, 1792)] and five as Vulnerable [Ateles chamek (Humboldt, 1812), Callimico goeldii (Thomas, 1904), Lagothrix lagotricha poeppigii (Humboldt, 1812), Myrmecophaga tridactyla Linnaeus, 1758 and Inia geoffrensis (Blainville, 1817)]. Given that subsistence and commercial hunting are common in the PNSD, mammals more affected by hunting [Ateles chamek (Humboldt, 1812), Lagothrix lagotricha (Humboldt, 1812), Tayassu pecari (Link, 1795)] were observed only in the more remote areas such as Serra do Divisor, Rio Moa. In comparison with others areas, the results indicate that PNSD has high richness of the mammals, with special attention to the 14 primates species registered.

Palaeoecology and palaeoenvironments of late Cenozoic mammals: tributes to the career of C.S. (Rufus) Churcher

This unique volume of thirty essays, by fifty-three internationally known scholars, honours C.S. (Rufus) Churcher, the distinguished Canadian palaeontologist. The papers focus on late Cenozoic mammals in North America and Africa and provide both site-specific descriptions of faunas and their associated geological contexts, and more general syntheses of regional palaeoenvironments and biogeography. The volume provides a much-needed overview of current research. The stature of the researchers who have contributed to the volume, and the breadth of the material presented, is a reflection of Churcher?s diverse research interests. The first section contains eleven papers on the palaeoenvironment and palaeoecology of Quaternary mammals in North America; the second section has 9 contributions describing faunas and morphological analyses of North American Quaternary mammals; and the final section contains nine papers on the palaeoecology and palaeoenvironments of late Cenozoic mammals of Africa. In this final section, Alan Gentry pays tribute to Churcher by naming a species after him: Budorcas churcheri. The volume contains individual discussions of North American fossil prairie dogs, mastodons, zebras, short-faced bears, sabre cats, lions, giant armadillos, elk-moose, caribou and muskrats, as well as African hyaenas, zebras, hipparion horses, antelopes, rodents, and giraffes.

Commentary: The giant armadillo and the "sabre-tooth" tiger: Notes on the "life" of a disease.

Commentary: The giant armadillo and the "sabre-tooth" tiger: Notes on the "life" of a disease.

Interrelação entre acari Ixodidae e hospedeiros Edentata da Serra da Canastra, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Recebemos para exame uma pequena coleção de carrapatos no Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra (MG), entre 1979 e 1980. Os autores demosntraram a existência de uma larga co-acomodação de Amblyomma pseudoconcolor em edentados da familia Dasypodidae, sendo Dasypodini a tribo mais ajustada a sta infestação. De acordo com as Figs. 1 e 2, Dasypodini são, provavelmente, os hospedeiros reais de A. pseudoconcolor e também os hospedeiros mais antigos. Pela primeira vez, A. pseudoconcolor é também registrado e, Cabassous tatouay, C. unicinctus, priododntes maximus e Euphractus sexcinctus. Também, pela primeira vez, A. pseudoconcolor e A. calcaratum foram registrados no Estado de Minas Gerais. os ectoparasitos estão depositados no Departamento de Parasitologia da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brasil.

Preindustrial man in earth's ecosystems

Preindustrial man influenced and changed the earth's ecosystems decisively. The disappearance of large animals from all continents (Eurasia, e.g., mammoth; America, e.g., the giant sloths and the giant armadillo) after the Pleistocene was most probably due to a large extent to the early hunters and collectors. Corn-growing and breeding of domestic animals led to the disappearance of their wild forms (e.g., the wild form of today's old world camel is unknown) and the cultivation of huge monocultures. The increasing need for wood resulted in the disappearance of forests almost all over Europe. Specific needs, such as pig-raising or bee-keeping, supported the formation of particular landscapes, e.g., sparsely wooded forests and extensive heathlands. All these factors resulted in extreme soil erosion and the disappearance of nutritionally important minerals from the soil, which was thus severely depleted.

Characteristics and Use of Burrows by Four Species of Armadillos in Brazil

An investigation of four species of armadillos (Priodontes maximus, Euphractus sexcinctus, Cabassous unicinctus, and Cabassous tatouay) revealed differences in their burrow dimensions and choice of burrow sites. Measurements of burrow width alone separated P. maximus and C. unicinctus from E. sexcinctus and C. tatouay; those of burrow height separated all three genera, but not C. unicinctus from C. tatouay. Together, these two measurements were adequate to identify the burrows of each species. The slopes of the burrow and of the surface around the burrow, and the direction at which the burrow entrance was dug, were similar for all four species. The time spent in a burrow and the type of site into which burrows were dug differed among species.

Pampatherium Paulacoutoi, uma nova espécie de tatu gigante da Bahia, Brasil (Ledentata, Dasypodidae)

The «Gruta das Oncas», a cave situated in the Caatinga do Moura district, municipulity of Jacobina, Bahia State, has been a rich source of fossils (Cartelle & Bohorquez, 1982 and Cartelle, 1983). In this same fossil bed we have found large quantities of skeletal pieces of Eremotherium laurillardi (Lund, 1842), together voith Nothrotherium maquinense Lydekker, 1889, Smilodon populator populator Lund, 1842 and a series of skeletal pieces of the giant armadillo vohich is the object of our present study. In this study we have given special emphasis to the cranium; a comparative study of related species, especially Pampatherium humboldti (Lund), 1839, is made.

Brazil's Finest National Park

Maned wolf, giant armadillo, giant otter, giant anteater, and marsh and pampas deer are among the endangered species to be found in the Parque Nacional das Emas, the National Park of the Rheas, in Brazil. But the park is in danger of losing much of its value because boundaries were wrongly drawn and vital areas omitted. The author urges the need for international funds to help Brazil create in Das Emas a well planned, well guarded and well equipped park that will be outstanding in Latin America.

Acquisitions at the British Museum (Natural History)

THE trustees of the Museum have purchased for the Department of Geology the terminal section of a tail-sheath of an extinct giant armadillo (Hoplo-phorits sp.) discovered in the Pleistocene deposits of Santa Fé, Argentine. The giant armadillos had a solid bony shell and armour of the same type on the head and tail. When danger threatened, they withdrew their limbs into the shell, closed the head end by means of the bony casque, and lashed the club-like tail from side to side so as to ward off attack from the rear. Some genera had massive horny spikes on the end of the tail, but in Hoplo-phorus the tail was covered with scales. The Department of Mineralogy has acquired a superb specimen of chessylite from Tsumeb in South-West Africa, and an extremely beautiful specimen with bright yellow plates of wulfenite (lead molybdate) on a glistening white ground of calcite crystals from Arizona. The Department has also purchased from the widow of the late Dr. A. E. H. Tutton a collection of the salts, chiefly double sulphates and selenates of the alkalis (potassium, rubidium, caesium, etc.), utilized by Dr. Tutton in his researches on the relation between physical properties and chemical composition in iso-morphous series of compounds. An important addition to the departmental library is a first edition of the “Speculum Lapidum” by Camillus Leonardus, physician to Caesar Borgia, to whom the book is dedicated. It is a fine example of the printing press of Sessa in Venice. The book was one of the most widely read ‘lapidaries’ of the time, and its editions ran from the first in Latin in 1502 (forty-four years before Agricola's “De Natura Fossilium”) to an English edition in 1750, bridging the gap between medieval and modern mineralogy. The late Frederick Adams of Jersey has bequeathed to the Department of Botany a collection of 23,000 microscope slides of diatoms, together with catalogues, books and pamphlets, and the microscope with which he worked. For many years past Mr. Adams acquired whatever diatom collections came on the market, and thus accumulated the largest collection in private hands.

Obras completas y correspondencia cientifica de Florentino Ameghino

THE third volume of the handsome collected edition of the late Florentino Ameghino's geological and paleontological works now being issued by the government of the province of Buenos Aires, is a reprint of his treatise on the antiquity of man in La Plata originally published in 1880. Francisco Moreno had then just founded the Anthropological and Archæological Museum at Buenos Aires (afterwards removed to La Plata), and Ameghino himself was studying with Henri Gervais in Paris, where he exhibited part of his collection at the Universal Exposition. The author was thus well furnished with materials, and had unusual opportunities of making himself acquainted with the latest advances in the subject of the antiquity of man. While describing the results of his own researches, he therefore took the opportunity of making many references to European and North American work which were illuminating. His volume is a most exhaustive discussion of the remains of the handiwork of prehistoric man discovered in Argentina, illustrated by twenty-five large plates. Of the skeleton of man himself no important fragments had at that time been found. The geological observations are particularly valuable and interesting, and Ameghino seems to make it quite clear for the first time that the man of the pampas was a contemporary of the extinct glyptodonts or giant armadillos, and actually used their large bony carapaces as roofs for his lowly habitations. Although naturally out-of-date, the whole treatise is a valuable record of facts and observations, in which the reprint will stimulate renewed interest.