Dasypus novemcinctus Linnaeus, 1758

Fig. 2 A Nine-banded armadillo

Material examined.

Costa Rica • Puntarenas Province, Karen Mogensen Wildlife Refuge; 09°52'20"N, 085°02'25"W; 295 m alt.; 10.02.2018; direct observation .

Identification.

Medium-sized armadillo. Characterised by an armoured body with 8 or 9 scutes. Distinguished from the other species of armadillo that occurs in Costa Rica, i. e., the northern armadillo Cabassous centralis Miller, 1899, by its close narrow ears, the long snout, an armoured tail and a noticeably arched carapace (Wainwright 2007; Pommer-Barbosa et al. 2023). Recorded in the Wildlife Refuge in various habitat types in all seasons. A very recent study based on both morphological and molecular data split D. novemcinctus into 4 distinct species. Following these results Costa Rican populations can be considered as belonging to two of these: D. fenestratus Peters, 1864 and D. mexicanus Peters, 1864 (Barthe et al. 2025).