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STATUS OF THE NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO IN NEW MEXICO -- The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) occurs widely in the southern United States, where established populations are found from Texas eastward to Florida and South Carolina, and northward to Kansas and Missouri (Layne 2003). Since the earliest report in southern Texas in 1849, the geographic range of this species in the United States has been steadily expanding northward and eastward via natural dispersal and both accidental and intentional releases of animals by humans (Buchanan and Talmage 1954, Cleveland 1970, Humphrey 1974, Taulman and Robbins 1996). Numerous isolated records are available from other states, including Nebraska (Freeman and Genoways 1998), Colorado (Fitzgerald et al. 1994), and Illinois (Van Deelen et al. 2002), which might represent either pioneering individuals near the edge of the established geographic range or accidental or intentional introductions. The nine-banded armadillo is a strong disperser and a distinctive animal that is easily identified by non-biologists. Additionally, these animals often historically were transported by humans and might still be transported occasionally. Thus, reports from locations outside the current geographic range of this species are not uncommon (Smith and Doughty 1984, Layne 2003). Information on the nine-banded armadillo in New Mexico is limited given that few substantiated reports have been acquired since Bailey (1905, 1928, 1931) cited observations by others in extreme southeastern New Mexico and adjacent western Texas (Findley et al. 1975). Stuart and Knight (1998) summarized available literature and reported additional observations in New Mexico, but concluded that evidence for extant populations was lacking. Almost all reports since 1900 have been observations of live or road-killed animals that were not preserved or photographed, and details of sightings often were unavailable or suggestive of human intervention (Stuart and Knight 1998). Our objectives were to document recentlycollected physical and photographic museum specimens of the nine-banded armadillo from New Mexico, report additional field observations of the nine-banded armadillo from the state, and review previous reports of habitat requirements of this species in the state. We obtained one photographic and three physical voucher specimens of the nine-banded armadillo from southeastern New Mexico; voucher specimens currently are preserved in the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB), University of New Mexico. On 2 December 2001, the skeleton of an adult armadillo (sex indeterminate) was collected along United States Highway 82, circa 9.5 km NNE Dunken, Chaves County (Sec. 26, T16S, R18E; circa 32.86° N, 105.17° W; Fig. 1). The animal apparently became trapped and died in the wire mesh of a sheep (Ovis aries) fence bordering the highway. The specimen was collected in the Rio Peñasco drainage system, circa 82 km W of the Pecos River, and in the lower edge of a piñon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus monosperma) woodland on a limestone outcrop with thin soils. The carapace and partial skeleton (no skull) were preserved (catalog number MSB 140060).
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COLFAX UNION
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RIO ARRIBA SANDOVAL
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Gr an de
ad
Rio
#
#
HARDING
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ian
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CHAVES EDDY
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Rio Penasc o
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New Mexico Texas
State/ Federal Boundary County Boundary 0 Rivers 0
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80 mi 120 km
Figure 1. Records of occurrence of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) in New Mexico based on museum specimens (solid circles) reported herein and previously described observations (triangles). The open circle represents a specimen record of questionable origin (Stuart and Knight 1998). County names (all capital letters) and major rivers are indicated.
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On 22 June 2006, C. Gehrt and T. Nelson collected a road-killed adult (sex indeterminate) at the north end of Carlsbad, Eddy County, near an abandoned concrete flume over the Pecos River (32.4471° N, 104.2564° W; Fig. 1). Approximate measurements of the specimen (which was crushed, dried, and lacked internal organs) were as follows: total length 705 mm, tail 310 mm, and hindfoot length 60 mm. The specimen was preserved as skull, skeleton, and frozen muscle tissue (catalog number MSB 146776). On 11 December 2006, a mostly disarticulated skeleton (adult, sex indeterminate) was collected from a dry concrete watering trough in a cattle (Bos taurus) pen at Hagerman, Chaves County, 1.2 km N and 2.4 km E of the junction of New Mexico Highway 2 and New Mexico Highway 249 (33.1221° N, 104.3099° W; Fig. 1). The specimen had a skull length of 95 mm and a hindfoot length (which was dried and not extended) of circa 82 mm. The specimen was preserved as a skull, partial skeleton, and frozen skin sample (catalog number MSB 146777). Specimens obtained during 2006 were collected within the valley of the Pecos River. On 15 July 2007, a road-killed armadillo was photographed by Calvin B. Smith along New Mexico Highway 18 between mile markers 61 and 62, approximately 11.2 km S and 8 km E of Lovington, Lea County (circa 32.83° N, 103.25° W; Fig. 1). The digital images included a close-up of the carcass and a wider view of the adjacent habitat; both images were archived (catalog number MSB 140242). Habitat at the location was a grassland plain with scattered mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa). Additionally, we provide an observation of a nine-banded armadillo in New Mexico not previously reported in the literature. During 1994-1995, a live animal was captured in Hillcrest Park in Clovis, Curry County and was released by a United States Fish and Wildlife Service agent in Texas (Wes Robertson, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, personal communication). Based on all available specimens and reports, the nine-banded armadillo has been documented from eight counties in New Mexico, including seven of the 12 easternmost counties (Fig. 1). Two of the four museum records reported herein, as well as other reports from Eddy and Guadalupe counties, were from within or near the valley of the Pecos River. Habitat descriptions of the nine-banded armadillo often include river valleys, and these habitats have been identified as corridors for dispersal and areas of relatively high population density, especially in more xeric regions (McDonough 2000). Riparian areas likely provide relatively moister microhabitat, which is thought to provide greater food availability, vegetative cover, and friable soils for burrowing and foraging by this species (Taber 1945). Records from the northeastern plains of New Mexico are more problematic. The single record from Union County likely involved an animal transported by humans (Stuart and Knight 1998). Probable releases of the nine-banded armadillo near Mosquero in Harding or San Miguel county in the 1970’s (Kenneth Garrison, Mosquero, New Mexico, personal communication) possibly explain an anecdotal report of observations (in Schaefer 1975) from this area. In addition, the paucity of
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records in northwestern Texas near the New Mexico state line (Schmidly 2004) do not suggest that the species has expanded its range westward in this region. Single records of the species have been documented from localities throughout the western Great Plains including eastern Colorado (Fitzgerald et al. 1994), southwestern Kansas (Cockrum 1952), and the Llano Estacado in northwestern Texas (Choate 1997), but it is unknown if these represent human introductions or naturally-dispersing individuals. Distribution of this species is thought to be limited by cold temperature and low (i.e., # 38 cm) annual precipitation (Humphrey 1974). Drought also can be a limiting factor, especially in areas of marginal precipitation (McDonough and Loughry 1997). Consequently, eastern New Mexico is at the presumed ecological (i.e., precipitation) tolerance limits of this species. Hence, occurrence of the nine-banded armadillo in eastern New Mexico might vary in response to prevailing weather and climatic conditions. These environmental factors might account for the apparent rarity and sporadic documentation of the nine-banded armadillo in New Mexico. Records of the nine-banded armadillo from southern Lea County in southeastern New Mexico provide the best evidence that a reproducing population formerly occurred in the state. Bailey (1905) provided the first summary of the geographic distribution of this species in the United States, and considered it to be confined to the semiarid mesquite region of Texas, including major river valleys and the extensive sandhills region near the Pecos River, northward into southern Eddy (now Lea) County, New Mexico. Bailey (1931) also reported that distribution of the nine-banded armadillo extended at least 113 km (70 miles) north of Monahans, which would include southern Lea County. Southeastern New Mexico has extensive regions of deep sand dominated by sand shinoak (Quercus havardii), sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia), and tall grasses, such as sand bluestem (Andropogon hallii), interspersed with areas of desert grassland dominated by mesquite (Dick-Peddie 1993). These habitats are consistent with previously described habitat requirements of this species (Bailey 1905). Because of the compensatory influence of sand on moisture availability, shinoak grasslands are considered relicts from wetter times (Peterson and Boyd 1998). Thus, these communities provide relatively mesic habitats for the nine-banded armadillo in an otherwise arid region. Based on the paucity of records of this species from western Texas (Bailey 1905), previous research suggested that the nine-banded armadillo had become rare or disappeared in that region early in the 20th century, possibly due to increasing aridity (e.g., Buchanan and Talmage 1954, Talmage and Buchanan 1954, Humphrey 1974). However, recent records from both western Texas (e.g., Schmidly 1977, Hollander et al. 1990, Jones and Parish 2001, Schmidly 2004, Kennedy and Jones 2006) and southeastern New Mexico (herein) suggest that the nine-banded armadillo might have persisted in or re-colonized this region. Additional specimens and verification of reproduction in southeastern New Mexico and adjacent areas of
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Texas are needed to support the hypothesis that this species has become reestablished in this region. We thank F. Armstrong, R. Artrip, D. Baggao, T. Best, D. Burkett, J. Cook, C. Dixon, J. Dunnum, C. Gehrt, B. R. Griffin, J. D. Griffin, J. J. Griffin, T. Griffin, C. Jordan, W. Justice, K. Garrison, K. Gehrt, K. Geluso, K. N. Geluso, A. Gennaro, M. Hakkila, J. Karam, G. Keller, J. Malaney, M. Massey, T. Nelson, B. Novosak, R. Paris, S. Patterson, W. Robertson, C. G. Schmitt, C. B. Smith, R. Terrell, G. Tillett, J. Truett, J. Whary, and B. Wilson for assistance compiling observations and securing specimens. We also thank T. Taggart for technical assistance and two anonymous reviewers for comments.--James N. Stuart1, Jennifer K. Frey, Zachary J. Schwenke2, and John S. Sherman. New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Conservation Services Division, Santa Fe, NM 87504-5112 (JNS). Department of Fishery and Wildlife Sciences (JKF, ZJS) and The Vertebrate Museum, Department of Biology (JKF), P.O. Box 30003, Campus Box 4901, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003. New Mexico State Office (NM930), U. S. Bureau of Land Management, P. O. Box 27115, Santa Fe, NM 87502 (JSS). 1 Corresponding author. E-mail address:
[email protected] 2 Current address: Department of Biological Sciences and Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS 67601-4099.
LITERATURE CITED Bailey, V. 1905. Biological survey of Texas. North American Fauna 25:1-222. Bailey, V. 1928. Animal life of the Carlsbad Cavern. Monographs of the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas 3:1-415. Bailey, V. 1931 (=1932). Mammals of New Mexico. North American Fauna 53:1-412. Buchanan, G. D., and R. V. Talmage. 1954. The geographical distribution of the armadillo in the United States. Texas Journal of Science 6:142-150. Choate, L. L. 1997. The mammals of the Llano Estacado. Special Publications of the Museum of Texas Tech University 40:1-240. Cleveland, A. G. 1970. The current geographic distribution of the armadillo in the United States. Texas Journal of Science 22:90-92. Cockrum, E. L. 1952. Mammals of Kansas. University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History 7:1-303. Dick-Peddie, W. A. 1993. New Mexico vegetation: past, present, and future. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Findley, J. S., A. H. Harris, D. E. Wilson, and C. Jones. 1975. Mammals of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fitzgerald, J. P., C. A. Meaney, and D. M. Armstrong. 1994. Mammals of Colorado. Denver Museum of Natural History and University Press of Colorado, Niwot, Colorado.
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Freeman, P. W., and H. H. Genoways. 1998. Recent northern records of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypodidae) in Nebraska. Southwestern Naturalist 43:491-504. Hollander, R. R., C. Jones, J. K. Jones, Jr., and R. W. Manning. 1990. Preliminary analysis of the effects of the Pecos River on geographic distribution of small mammals in western Texas. Journal of Big Bend Studies 2:97-107. Humphrey, S. R. 1974. Zoogeography of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the United States. BioScience 24:457-462. Jones, C., and D. A. Parish. 2001. Effects of the Pecos River on the geographic distributions of mammals in western Texas. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Texas Tech University 204:1-11. Kennedy, S., and C. Jones. 2006. Two new records of mammals from the Davis Mountains, Jeff Davis County, Texas. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Texas Tech University 252:1-4. Layne, J. N. 2003. Armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus. Pp. 75-97 in Wild mammals of North America: biology, management, and conservation, second edition (G. A. Feldhamer, B. C Thompson, and J. A. Chapman, editors). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. McDonough, C. M. 2000. Social organization of nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) in a riparian habitat. American Midland Naturalist 144:139-151. McDonough, C. M., and W. J. Loughry. 1997. Patterns of mortality in a population of nine-banded armadillos, Dasypus novemcinctus. American Midland Naturalist 138:299-305. Peterson, R. S., and C. S. Boyd. 1998. Ecology and management of sand shinnery communities: a literature review. United State Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-16:1-44. Schaefer, J. W. 1975. An American bestiary. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. Schmidly, D. J. 1977. The mammals of Trans-Pecos Texas, including Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas. Schmidly, D. J. 2004. The mammals of Texas, sixth edition. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. Smith, L. L., and R. W. Doughty. 1984. The amazing armadillo: geography of a folk critter. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. Stuart, J. N., and P. J. Knight. 1998. Notes on the armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus, in New Mexico. New Mexico Naturalist’s Notes 1:39-42. Taber, F. W. 1945. Contribution on the life history and ecology of the nine-banded armadillo. Journal of Mammalogy 26:211-226. Talmage, R. V., and G. D. Buchanan. 1954. The armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus): a review of its natural history, ecology, anatomy, and reproductive physiology. The Rice Institute Pamphlet Monograph in Biology 41:1-135.
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Taulman, J. F., and L. W. Robbins. 1996. Recent range expansion and distributional limits of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the United States. Journal of Biogeography 23:635-648. Van Deelen, T. R, J. D. Parrish, and E. J. Heske. 2002. A nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) from central Illinois. Southwestern Naturalist 47:489-491. Received: 22 June 2007
Accepted: 2 September 2008
Associate Editor for Mammalogy: Christopher N. Jacques
