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Animal profile

Nine-banded Armadillo

Dasypus novemcinctus

MammaliaForest, brushland, grassland and pasture with loose, diggable soilLeast Concern

Field profile

The nine-banded armadillo is a burrowing insectivore armoured with bony plates set in the skin. Recent taxonomic work restricts the name to South American populations and treats the armadillos of Mexico and the United States as a separate species. It is unusual among mammals in giving birth to genetically identical quadruplets.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-02-04

Nine-banded Armadillo

This armadillo almost always bears identical quadruplets

A single fertilised egg splits into four, so a nine-banded armadillo litter is normally four genetically identical young of the same sex. Obligate polyembryony of this kind is known only in armadillos of the genus Dasypus.

Read with evidence →

Nine-banded Armadillo | Daily Animal Facts