Girdle gullet

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Girdle gullet
Belt gullet (Chlamyphorus truncatus)

Belt gullet ( Chlamyphorus truncatus )

Systematics
Order : Armored siderails (Cingulata)
without rank: Armadillos (Dasypoda)
Family : Chlamyphoridae
Subfamily : Chlamyphorinae
Genre : Chlamyphorus
Type : Girdle gullet
Scientific name of the  genus
Chlamyphorus
Harlan , 1825
Scientific name of the  species
Chlamyphorus truncatus
Harlan , 1825

The pink fairy armadillo , even Little pink fairy armadillo , ( Chlamyphorus truncatus ) is a species of armadillos (Dasypoda) and belongs together with the greater fairy armadillo ( Calyptophractus retusus ) of the smallest members of the family. Like this one, it lives mostly underground and feeds mainly on insects . In addition, little is known about the way of life of the gullet. Since the gullet is rarely observed, no statement can currently be made on the status of its threat.

features

Habitus

Stuffed belt gullet

The girdle mullet is one of the smallest representatives of the armadillos and reaches a head-trunk length of 11 to 15.4 cm, the tail is around 3 cm long, the weight is around 120 g. With a length of 4 cm, the head is relatively short and narrow at the muzzle , but wide at the rear. The very small eyes are about 2 cm apart, but the main characteristic is the lack of visible auricles , which are only indicated by a slight bump just behind the eyes. The typical head shield is very wide and consists of larger bone platelets in the rear section, which are arranged in rows. In the front area, which reaches close to the nose, these are smaller and rather unsorted. The back armor, which develops continuously from the head shield, is in contrast to that of the Burmeister girdle mole ( Calyptophractus retusus ) only connected to the skeleton on the middle axis of the body. It also consists of square to rhombic shaped bone plates arranged in 24 rows, each row being separated by a narrow fold of skin. Only a few rows at the front and rear of the armor are firmly fused. The number of bony platelets per row varies from 15 to 22, in the rear armor area, which is the widest, it is 24. The rearmost row bends down and is perpendicular to the body axis, where it forms the pelvis or rump armor, one Education that does not occur in any other armadillo species except for the Burmeister girdle mole. It has an oval shape and an indentation on the lower edge, where the tail attaches, and consists of five semicircular arranged bone plates of also square shape. Another armor can be found on the tail, which tapers off flat and spatula-shaped, in contrast to the pointed tail of the Burmeister girdle mole. The entire carapace is pink or yellowish in color, animals that are completely black ( melanism ) are extremely rare . A fringe of long, bristle-like hair protrudes above the pelvic armor. The flanks and the belly are also covered with thick, white fur. The short limbs end in front in four and behind in five toes, which have strong, curved claws, whereby the middle of the front feet with up to 2 cm in length are strongest.

Skull and skeletal features

The dentition consists of simple, nail-like teeth that are reminiscent of molars , but differ from those of other mammals due to the lack of tooth enamel . In each jaw arch there are 7 to 8 teeth in the upper jaw and 8 teeth in the lower jaw, for a total of 30 to 32. The tail is still formed from a total of 14 vertebrae. What is particularly striking is the shape of the front legs, which have a strong, upper joint ( olecranon ) on the ulna . This reaches an expansion of 1.2 cm with a total bone length of 2.9 cm. Such massive joints on the front legs are typical of animals with a digging way of life.

Sensory performances and vocalizations

The greatly reduced eyes have a large lens that is more curved at the back than at the front, and the retina is heavily pigmented. This shows that the garter gull only perceives individual differences in brightness and is thus adapted to an underground way of life. On the other hand, like most armadillos, the gullet has a very well-developed sense of smell , which is primarily used for foraging. The only known utterances are screams, which are uttered in a state of fright or in case of danger.

distribution

Distribution area

The gullet lives exclusively in southern South America in the plains of central Argentina . Here it occurs from sea level up to an altitude of 1500 m. The total distribution area is given as 350,000 km², but the size of the actually inhabited area or the density of the population are largely unknown. Preferred habitats are dry grasslands and sandy plains with bush-like vegetation, which are characterized by dry climates with less than 400 mm of annual precipitation.

Way of life

The way of life of the gullet is largely unexplored. It is solitary and active both during the day and at night; a single phase of activity lasts up to three hours, which is spent foraging and digging, followed by up to six hours of rest. The belt mole lives in underground, self-dug burrows and only rarely comes to the surface. In general, he is a skilful digger who can dig himself in within a few seconds, mostly starting to scratch with his nose, later using his strong front paws and pushing the earth away with his hind legs. Its angled rump armor often prevents the excavation from falling back into the dug tunnel. Several types of dwellings are known: on the one hand there are very small caves, which probably represent short-term hiding places, on the other hand there are also several meters long and mostly unbranched corridors with two or more 6 to 7 cm wide entrances, and enlarged corridors can also be found at the end of the corridors Chambers occur. Both types of construction are usually buried in slopes and rarely reach more than 15 cm below the surface. Food is also largely subterranean; the main dish is mainly insects , mostly beetles and their larvae , but also ants , worms and snails , and the armadillo only rarely eats plant material such as roots . The gullet is therefore classified as a generalized insect eater. Little is known about reproduction, it is possible that a young animal that is 3 to 4 cm tall is born per litter. The birth takes place in summer. In the event of imminent danger, an animal burrows itself and closes the entrance to the building with its armor; in the open it sits on the rump armor and bends its body to protect its sensitive belly.

Systematics

Internal systematics of the armadillos according to Gibb et al. 2015
  Dasypoda  
  Dasypodidae  

 Dasypus


  Chlamyphoridae  
  Euphractinae  

 Euphractus


   

 Chaetophractus


   

 Zaedyus




   
  Chlamyphorinae  
  Chlamyphorus  

 Chlamyphorus truncatus


   

 Calyptophractus



  Tolypeutinae  

 Priodontes


   

 Tolypeutes


   

 Cabassous







Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The gullet is the only species from the thus monotypical genus Chlamyphorus , which belongs to the family of the Chlamyphoridae and the subfamily of the Chlamyphorinae within the group of the armadillos (Dasypoda) . The subfamily is the only other recent member of the Burmeister girdle mole ( Calyptophractus retusus ), the genus Chlamydophractus is still known to be fossilized . The Tolypeutinae , which include the giant armadillo ( Priodontes maximus ), the spherical armadillos ( Tolypeutes ) and the bare- tailed armadillos ( Cabassous ), are to be regarded as the closest relatives of the Chlamyphorinae and at the same time as their sister group . Further outside in the family sequence are the Euphractinae with the six-banded armadillo ( Euphractus sexinctus ), the dwarf armadillo ( Zaedyus pichiy ) and the bristle armadillos ( Chaetophractus ). According to molecular genetic studies, the Tolypeutinae and Chlamyphorinae separated in the Oligocene 33 million years ago, the splitting of the belt mole into the two current genera occurred in the Lower Miocene around 19 million years ago. The oldest fossil records of the gullet have been handed down from the Pleistocene .

There are no known subspecies of the gullet, so the species is monotypical. It was described for the first time in 1825 by Richard Harlan , who used an individual that had been donated to the Natural History Museum of Philadelphia by William Colesberry the year before and that came from the Argentine province of Mendoza . Colesberry stated that the animal was caught alive but had only survived a few days in captivity. Only five years later, Johann Georg Wagler used the term Chlamydophorus for the girdle mole, which was particularly popular in the further course of the 19th century. In the recent past, the Burmeister girdle mole ( Calyptophractus retusus ) was partly listed in the genus Chlamyphorus , but since 2004 it has been officially referred to as its own genus. The name "Pichiciego" is also used locally for the Gürtelmull. Leopold Fitzinger also used the common German name "Mantelgürtelthier" because the tank was constructed differently from the Burmeister- Gürtelmull.

threat

Belt mole (engraving, 1927)

The gullet is a rather rare animal, and because of its underground way of life, it is rarely observed. However, a study from 2011 was able to determine a significantly wider distribution than originally assumed. At the same time, there has also been a significant decrease in sightings of this armadillo, which is viewed as a decline in populations. The reasons for this lie in the conversion of the habitat into arable and pasture land as well as in the reenactment by cats and other animals living in the wild , but it is hardly hunted by humans.

Due to its rarity and lack of scientific observations, the IUCN classifies the gullet in the category of “ data deficient ” . In addition, it has not yet been possible to breed this armadillo in captivity. One of the most recent attempts ended after eight months, with a high susceptibility to stress being observed; In general, keeping these animals is difficult, no animal has survived longer than three or four years in human care. The gullet is represented in several nature reserves, for example in the Lihué Calel National Park and in the Talampaya National Park .

literature

  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
  • Mariella Superina, Agustín Manuel Abba: Chlamyphoridae (Chlamyphorid armadillos). In: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4 , pp. 48-71 (pp. 68-69).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Daniel Barasoain, Rodrigo L. Tomassini, Alfredo E. Zurita, Claudia I. Montalvo and Mariella Superina: A new fairy armadillo (Cingulata, Chlamyphorinae) from the upper Miocene of Argentina: first fossil record of the most enigmatic Xenarthra. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 39 (5), 2019, p. E1716778, doi: 10.1080 / 02724634.2019.1716778 ; Daniel Barasoain, Rodrigo L. Tomassini, Alfredo E. Zurita, Claudia I. Montalvo and Mariella Superina: Chlamydophractus, new name for Chlamyphractus Barasoain et al., 2020 (Xenarthra, Chlamyphorinae), non Chlamyphractus Castellanos, 1940 (Xenarthra, Glyptodontidae). In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. , 2020, p. E1774890, doi: 10.1080 / 02724634.2020.1774890 (name correction ).
  2. ^ A b c Richard Harlan: Description of a new genus of mammiferous quadrupeds of the Order Edentata. In: Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York. 6, 1825, pp. 235-246.
  3. a b c d e Mariella Superina: Biology and keeping of armadillos (Dasypodidae). University of Zurich, 2000, pp. 1–248.
  4. a b c Mariella Superina, Agustín Manuel Abba: Chlamyphoridae (Chlamyphorid armadillos). In: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4 , pp. 48-71 (pp. 68-69).
  5. ^ SF Vizcaíno and N. Milne: Structure and function in armadillo limbs (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Dasypodidae). In: Journal of Zoology. 257, 2002, pp. 117-127.
  6. ^ Carlos E. Borghi, Stella M. Giannoni, Virgilio G. Roig: Eye reduction in subterranean mammals and eye protective behavior in Ctenomys. In: Mastozoología Neotropical. 9 (2), 2002, pp. 123-134.
  7. a b Mariella Superina, Agustín M. Abba: Chlamyphorus truncatus. In: Edentata. 11 (2), 2010, p. 154.
  8. Ricardo N. Melchor, Jorge F. Genise, Aldo M. Umazano, Mariella Superina: Pink fairy armadillo meniscate burrows and ichnofabrics from Miocene and Holocene interdune deposits of Argentina: Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological significance. In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 350-352, 2012, pp. 149-170.
  9. a b Gillian C. Gibb, Fabien L. Condamine, Melanie Kuch, Jacob Enk, Nadia Moraes-Barros, Mariella Superina, Hendrik N. Poinar, Frédéric Delsuc: Shotgun Mitogenomics Provides a Reference Framework Phylogenetic and Time Scale for Living Xenarthrans. In: Molecular Biology and Evolution. 33 (3), 2015, pp. 621–642.
  10. Maren Möller-Krull, Frédéric Delsuc, Gennady Churakov, Claudia Marker, Mariella Superina, Jürgen Brosius, Emmanuel JP Douzery, Jürgen Schmitz: Retroposed Elements and Their Flanking Regions Resolve the Evolutionary History of Xenarthran Mammals (Armadillos, Anteaters and Sloths). In: Molecular Biology and Evolution. 24, 2007, pp. 2573-2582.
  11. Frédéric Delsuc, Mariella Superina, Marie-Ka Tilak, Emmanuel JP Douzery, Alexandre Hassanin: Molecular phylogenetics unveils the ancient evolutionary origins of the enigmatic fairy armadillos. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 62, 2012, pp. 673-680.
  12. ^ A b Alfred L. Gardner: Mammals of South America, Volume 1: Marsupials, Xenarthrans, Shrews, and Bats. University of Chicago Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-226-28240-4 , pp. 139-141.
  13. ^ Johann Georg Wagler: Natural system of amphibians: with preceding classification of mammals and birds: a contribution to comparative zoology. Munich 1830, p. 35. ( biodiversitylibrary.org
  14. ^ A b Leopold Joseph Fitzinger: The natural family of the belt animals (Dasypodes). In: Session reports of the mathematical and natural science class of the Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Department 1. 64, 1871, pp. 209–276 and 329–390.
  15. edentate Specialist Group: The 2004 Edentata species assessment workshop, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, December 16-17, 2004. In: Edentata. 5, 2004, pp. 3-26.
  16. Carlos E. Borghi, Claudia M. Campos, Stella M. Giannoni, Valeria E. Campos, Claudio Sillero-Zubiri: Updated distribution of the pink fairy armadillo Chlamyphorus truncatus (Xenarthra, Dasypodidae), the world's smallest armadillo. In: Edentata. 12, 2011, pp. 14-19.
  17. Mariella Superina: New Information on Population Declines in Pink Fairy Armadillos. In: Edentata. 7, 2006, pp. 48-50.
  18. Mariella Superina, Agustín M. Abba: Chlamyphorus truncatus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. ( [1] ), last accessed on May 3, 2013
  19. Jump up Mariella Superina: Husbandry of a Pink Fairy Armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus): Case Study of a Cryptic and Little Known Species in Captivity. In: Zoo Biology. 30, 2011, pp. 225-231.

Web links

Commons : Girdle Mole ( Chlamyphorus truncatus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files