Scientific Illustration

compendium-of-beasts:

Le tatou à neuf bandes ; L’unau.

NYPL

thagomizers:

Glyptodon reticulatus (“grooved tooth”)
Chordata/Mammalia/Xenartha/Cingulata/Glyptodontidae

• Pleistocene (2 Ma - 10,000 years)
• 10.8 ft in length and 2 tons

Described in 1839
Location : South America
Diet : Herbivore

muropodnety:

Pink Fairy Armadillo, Chlamyphorus truncatus

“Geographic ranges and comparative morphologies of the two living species of fairy armadillos. (a) Updated distribution maps of the Chacoan fairy armadillo Calyptophractus retusus (light gray) and the pink fairy armadillo Chlamyphorus truncatus (hashed lines); (b) Calyptophractus retusus Burmeister, 1863; (c) Chlamyphorus truncatus Harlan, 1825. A major distinction between the two species is the dorsal carapace, which is only attached to the body through a thin membrane along the spine in Chlamyphorus, whereas it is fully attached to the body in Calyptophractus, as in other armadillos. Note the spatula-shaped tail and the welldefined head shield in Chlamyphorus, and the rounded tail and visible ears in Calyptophractus. Drawings by Laurence Meslin”

Molecular phylogenetics unveils the ancient evolutionary origins of the enigmatic fairy armadillos. Delsuc F, Superina M, Tilak MK, Douzery EJ, Hassanin A. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2012 Feb;62(2):673-80. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.11.008. Epub 2011 Nov 23

biomedicalephemera:

Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)

Did you know that the nine-banded armadillo (and a few of its Dasypus cousins) gives birth to identical quadruplets in almost every litter? Shortly after the zygote implants in the uterus, it splits into four (or occasionally three or five) separate embryos, each of which develop their own independent placenta. This means that, unlike in identical human fetuses, blood and nutrients are not shared, and the death of one fetus is unlikely to affect the survival of the others. After the pups are born, they remain in the burrow for approximately three months, and over the next year of their life, slowly wander farther and farther away from their place of birth.

As nine-banded armadillos have few natural predators in their Northern range, this highly effective reproduction strategy means that one female will often produce upwards of 50+ offspring in her relatively short lifetime. Those offspring have been expanding the armadillo’s known range for the past several decades. However, as armadillos are poor at thermoregulation, they’ve just about reached the limit of the area that they can survive in - any farther north, and they would not be able to survive the longer winters.

Images:

Top: Tatusia novem cincta [now Dasypus novemcinctus] - The Nine-Banded Armadillo. From Biologia Centrali-Americana. F. Ducane Godman and Osbert Salvin, 1918.

Bottom: Fetal Nine-banded Armadillo Pups. The American Journal of Anatomy. Vol. III, 1900-1901. “Enamel in the teeth of an edantate.” A. M. Spurgin.

The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) as Tatusia novemcincta by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.

Biologia Centrali-Americana :.
[London :Published for the editors by R. H. Porter],1879-1915.
biodiversitylibrary.org/page/570908

n171_w1150 by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.

Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio, et iconibus artificiosissimis expressio, per universam physices historiam :.
Amstelaedami :Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios & J. Wetstenium & Gul. Smith,1734-65..
biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13957856

ulaulaman:

The embryos of a sloth, armadillo, and pangolin, by On the structure and development of the skull in the mammalia (1874) by William Kitchen Parker via Prosopopea

compendium-of-beasts:

The three-banded armadillo (1-3), and six-banded armadillo, (4).  [3 banded armadillo (1-3), and 6 banded armadillo, (4).] (1904)

via NYPL

biomedicalephemera:

Left: Armadillo Genus Alterum Clusii - “Armadillo, alternate genus”
Right: Armadillo siue Aiatochtli - “Armadillo or Gourd Rabbit [from Nahuatl language]”

All genus of armadillo have armored scutes that protect them from predators when they roll up, but the hardness and organization of those scutes varies. Because of this armor, the animals tend to be fairly slow. The denseness means that they’re also not naturally buoyant - however, the armadillo family has a counter for this! They inhale lots of air and expand their abdomen to twice the natural size, as well as being able to hold their breath for several minutes.

Ground armadillo has the dubious honor of being the only syphilis “cure” that you can contract Mycobacterium leprae from while preparing it. While I doubt Southerners are trying to cure syphilis with the armadillos they contact, it’s worth noting that over 70% of the leprosy cases in the Southern United States in the past two decades are thought to have armadillo-based origins.

A Description of the Nature of Four-Footed Beasts; With Their Figures Engraven in Brass. Joannes Jonstonus, 1655.