Abstract

ABBA, Agustín M; CASSINI, Guillermo H; TUNEZ, Juan I  and  VIZCAINO, Sergio F. The enigma of the Yepes’ armadillo: Dasypus mazzai, D. novemcinctus or D. yepesi?. Rev. Mus. Argent. Cienc. Nat. [online]. 2018, vol.20, n.1, pp.83-90. ISSN 1853-0400.

The long-nosed armadillos of the Dasypus genus are the richest and more widespread extant xenarthra. In 1933, the prominent Argentinean mammalogist José Yepes studied specimens collected by Salvador Mazza and named a new species: D. mazzai. Several authors interpreted that the holotype of the species was a juvenile of D. novemcinctus. In 1995, Vizcaíno support the synonymy with D. novemcinctus but accepted the existence of an endemic species of northwestern Argentina that dedicated to Yepes (D. yepesi). Morphological studies have questioned the synonymy of the species with D. novemcinctus. In this contribution we reviewed the identity of the type material by sequencing a DNA fragment of 212 bp, product of the 16S ribosomal unit of Dasypodidae. Both samples of the holotype (bone and muscle) and of a specimen from the north of Santa Fe province have a 100% similarity with the D. yepesi / D. sabanicola sequences available in the GenBank. These results indicate that the type specimen of D. mazzai is neither a D. novemcinctus nor another species of the Dasypus genus previously named. Dasypus mazzai is revalidated and the eastern boundary in the Chaco region is confirmed. Field work is required to confirm the conservation status and current distribution of this endemic mulita.

Keywords : Argentina; Chaco region; Long nosed armadillo; Salta; Santa Fe; Yungas region.