25 Types of Armadillos With Pictures and Facts

This is the armadillo you can see in the United States. It lives from Costa Rica north through Central America and Mexico to the central and eastern United States. It is very adaptable, and its range in the US is still growing.^[23]

Texas Tech University reports an average total length of about 76 cm (30 in), and almost half of that is tail. Males weigh 5 to 8 kg (11 to 18 lb), and females weigh 4 to 6 kg (9 to 13 lb). Most have 9 movable bands.

Tidbit: Until 2024, this armadillo was called the nine-banded armadillo. A DNA study found that the nine-banded armadillo is really 4 species. The Field Museum announced that the one in the US should now be called the Mexican long-nosed armadillo. Texas named “the armadillo” its official Small State Mammal in 1995, so that title still stands.

Wilhelm Peters, a German naturalist, first named this form in 1865. It was treated as a subspecies until the 2024 study raised it to a full species.

Since 2024, the scientific name Dasypus novemcinctus applies only to armadillos in South America. It is the smallest of the 4 species that were split from the old nine-banded armadillo.^[24]

It lives on the eastern side of the Andes, from Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela to Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern Argentina. It also lives in Trinidad and Tobago. It uses many kinds of habitat, including forests, farm fields, pastures, and plantations.

Tidbit: Despite its name, this armadillo can have anywhere from 7 to 11 movable bands. Nine is just the most common number. Litters are usually 4 genetically identical young.

Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who created the modern system for naming species, named it in 1758.

Image: Schreber, Die Säugthiere, Plate LXXIV (public domain)

This armadillo lives on the western slopes of the Andes in northern Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, and north into Central America as far as Costa Rica. The Mammal Diversity Database does not yet list Peru. In northern Costa Rica, it shares its range with the Mexican long-nosed armadillo.^[4]

It has the smallest shell of the 4 species split from the old nine-banded armadillo. Adults average about 78 cm (31 in) long from nose to tail tip.

Tidbit: Its name, fenestratus, is Latin for “with windows.” Wilhelm Peters named it from a specimen collected in Costa Rica, which is still kept at the natural history museum in Berlin.

Wilhelm Peters named this form in 1865. The 2024 DNA study raised it from a subspecies to a full species.

Photo: avocat via iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0, cropped

This armadillo lives in the Guiana Shield of northeastern South America. Its range covers French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, eastern Venezuela east of the Orinoco River, and northern Brazil north of the lower Amazon.

It is the largest of the 4 species split from the old nine-banded armadillo. Adults average about 86 cm (34 in) from nose to tail tip and weigh about 5.5 to 6.5 kg (12 to 14 lb). It usually has 8 or 9 movable bands.

Tidbit: The Field Museum calls it the first armadillo described in the last 30 years. Scientists told it apart from its relatives using DNA and skull features. One of the lead researchers said these armadillos are “almost impossible to differentiate in the field.”

A team led by Mathilde Barthe and Frédéric Delsuc, two French scientists, described it in 2024.

Photo: Gerry van Tonder via iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0, cropped

This long-nosed armadillo lives in Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay. Its range reaches south to Buenos Aires province in Argentina. It prefers open country such as grasslands and savannas, although it also lives in forests and shrublands.

Adults measure about 24 to 47 cm (9 to 19 in) from head to rump and weigh around 2 kg (4.4 lb), although size varies a lot between populations. It usually has 6 or 7 movable bands, sometimes 8.

Tidbit: Its litters are large for an armadillo. ICMBio reports litters of 7 to 9 young. The young are probably monozygotic, meaning genetically identical, a trait linked to the genus Dasypus.

Carl Linnaeus named it in 1758.

Image: Schreber, Die Säugthiere, Plate LXXII (public domain)

This armadillo lives only in Peru. Peru’s national Red Book lists it from the mountain forests of Amazonas, San Martín, Huánuco, Pasco, and Junín.^[26]

It is a small long-nosed armadillo with a very long, narrow snout. Peru lists it as a threatened species, but it is so rarely seen that the IUCN rates it as Data Deficient.

Tidbit: It is the only armadillo whose shell is completely covered in dense hair. Its skull is so unusual that some scientists have proposed moving it into a genus of its own, Cryptophractus.

Leopold Fitzinger, an Austrian zoologist, described it in 1856.

Image: Hermann Burmeister, 1862 (public domain)

This armadillo may live only in Argentina. It was first known from Salta and Jujuy provinces in the northwest, and it has since been found in Santa Fe. It may also live in Bolivia and Paraguay. It lives in Yungas forests and in the drier Chaco.^[28]

It is a medium-small long-nosed armadillo with long ears. Very few specimens exist, so its size is not well known.

Tidbit: Its name honors Dr. Salvador Mazza, a physician who spent his life fighting Chagas disease and supplied the first specimens. For years the name was thought to be invalid, and the animal was renamed Dasypus yepesi. Later studies showed that D. mazzai was the correct name after all. Scientists still debate whether it is a separate species.

José Yepes, an Argentine mammalogist, described it in 1933.

Illustration © BioExplorer.net

This armadillo lives only on the Llanos, the flat grassland plains of Venezuela and Colombia. It is a savanna specialist.^[30]

It is small, with an average total length of about 50 cm (20 in) including the tail. Its shell is brownish, sometimes with yellowish sides.

Tidbit: Its name, sabanicola, means “savanna dweller.” It is one of the few long-nosed armadillos that lives mainly in open grassland instead of forest.

Edgardo Mondolfi, a Venezuelan zoologist, described it in 1968. The 2024 DNA study could not confirm it as a separate species, so its status is still under review.

Illustration © BioExplorer.net

This is the largest long-nosed armadillo. It lives in French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, eastern Venezuela, and northern Brazil north of the Amazon. It lives in tropical rainforest and is rare in savannas.

Adults measure 51 to 58 cm (20 to 23 in) from head to rump and weigh about 8.5 to 10.5 kg (19 to 23 lb). It has large, spiky scales on the backs of its hind legs and 7 or 8 movable bands.

Tidbit: The specimen used to name this species was collected by August Kappler in Suriname in 1846. It is still kept at the natural history museum in Stuttgart, Germany. The photo above shows that very specimen.

Ferdinand Krauss, a German naturalist, described it in 1862. In 2016, scientists split this species into 3. The other two are listed next.

Photo: Josefma via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

This large armadillo lives south of the Amazon River in Brazil and in northern Bolivia, and the Mammal Diversity Database also lists Peru. It uses lowland rainforest and the edges of savannas.

Like its two close relatives, it has large, spiky scales at its knees. Adults weigh about 8.5 to 10.5 kg (19 to 23 lb).

Tidbit: Its name comes from the Beni River in Bolivia. The first specimen was collected near the spot where the Madre de Dios River flows into the Beni.

Einar Lönnberg, a Swedish zoologist, described it in 1942.

Photo: Vincent A. Vos via iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0, cropped

This armadillo lives in the foothills of the eastern Andes in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, and east into the western Brazilian Amazon. It probably also lives in northern Bolivia. It is a lowland rainforest species.^[2]

It shares the spiky knee scales of the other greater long-nosed armadillos. Adults weigh about 8.5 to 10.5 kg (19 to 23 lb).

Tidbit: Oldfield Thomas first named it in 1901. For more than a century, scientists treated it as part of the greater long-nosed armadillo. A 2016 study showed it was a separate species after all.

Oldfield Thomas, a British zoologist, described it in 1901.

Photo: Jared Shorma via iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0, cropped

This armadillo lives from southern Mexico through Central America to western Colombia, northwestern Ecuador, and northwestern Venezuela. It lives in dry to moist forests.^[31]

Adults measure 30 to 38 cm (12 to 15 in) from head to rump, plus a 13 to 18 cm (5 to 7 in) tail. They weigh 2 to 3.5 kg (4.4 to 7.7 lb). Like all naked-tailed armadillos, its tail has only a few thin, widely spaced plates. It eats mainly ants and termites.

Tidbit: It often digs its burrows into banks. The entrances are oval or round.

Gerrit S. Miller Jr., an American mammalogist at the Smithsonian, described it in 1899.

Image: early 1900s drawing (public domain)

This is the smallest naked-tailed armadillo. It lives in the Gran Chaco of western Paraguay and north-central Argentina, where it lives in dry thorn forest and thorn scrub.^[32]

Adults average about 30 cm (12 in) from head to rump. It has tiny ears and eats mainly ants and termites.

Tidbit: It is so rarely studied that much of what we know comes from a handful of specimens. People who have handled it have heard it give a grunting call.

Ralph Wetzel, an American mammalogist, described it in 1980.

Photo: Pablo H Capovilla via iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0, cropped

This armadillo lives in central Brazil, southeastern Bolivia, and northeastern Paraguay. It is a species of open habitats, especially the Cerrado savanna.^[33]

Adults measure 29 to 34 cm (11 to 13 in) from head to rump and weigh 1.5 to 2 kg (3.3 to 4.4 lb). It feeds mainly on termites.

Tidbit: Unlike most armadillos, it is active in the middle of the day. In one study in the Cerrado of São Paulo, 97 percent of captures came between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Peter Wilhelm Lund, a Danish naturalist, described it in 1845. For many years, it was grouped with the Amazon naked-tailed armadillo.

Photo: Jan Ebr and Ivana Ebrová via iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0, cropped

This is the largest naked-tailed armadillo. It lives in eastern and southern Brazil, southeastern Paraguay, northeastern Argentina, and northeastern Uruguay. It uses forests, the Cerrado savanna, and open grasslands.^[35]

Adults average about 46 cm (18 in) from head to rump, plus a tail of about 18 cm (7 in). They weigh about 4.8 to 6.2 kg (10.6 to 13.7 lb). It has 10 to 13 movable bands and large, funnel-shaped ears about 4 cm (1.6 in) long.

Tidbit: Even though it is the largest naked-tailed armadillo, it is so poorly studied that Brazil lists it as Data Deficient.

Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest, a French zoologist, described it in 1804.

Photo: Marcelino Dias via iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0, cropped

This armadillo is also called the southern naked-tailed armadillo. It lives east of the Andes in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, northern Brazil, Ecuador, and northeastern Peru, south to Bolivia and Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil. It lives mainly in rainforest.^[37]

Adults measure 35 to 44 cm (14 to 17 in) from head to rump, plus a 16 to 20 cm (6 to 8 in) tail. They weigh 2.5 to 3.6 kg (5.5 to 8 lb). In northern animals, a pale band runs around the lower edge of the shell.

Tidbit: It loves termites. In one study, 90 percent of its burrows were dug into termite mounds.

Carl Linnaeus named it in 1758.

Image: Schreber, Die Säugthiere, Plate LXXV (public domain)

This armadillo lives in southeastern Bolivia, Paraguay, most of Argentina, and southern Chile. It uses open, dry areas such as the Pampas, the Chaco, and the Patagonian steppe, and it also does well on farmland.^[38]

Adults weigh 2 to 5 kg (4.4 to 11 lb). Its shell is flat, with long, sparse hair and 6 to 8 movable bands, most often 8. It eats both plants and animals, including insects and dead animals.

Tidbit: It often visits garbage dumps to find food. Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest described it in 1804.

Photo: Diego Carús, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

This armadillo lives in Bolivia, northeastern Chile, and Paraguay, south to Buenos Aires province in Argentina. In Chile it lives as high as 4,600 m (15,100 ft). It prefers dry areas with loose, sandy soil.^[40]

Adults measure 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 in) from head to rump and weigh 0.6 to 1.2 kg (1.3 to 2.6 lb). It has large ears and 6 to 8 movable bands. It eats beetles and other insects, plants, and small vertebrates.

Tidbit: It lets out a loud cry when it feels threatened. That is how it got its name. There is also a separate population in Buenos Aires province, far from the rest of its range.

John Edward Gray, a British zoologist, described it in 1865. The IUCN armadillo specialist group places it in Chaetophractus. The Mammal Diversity Database (v2.5) moves it to its own genus, Dasyphractus.

Image: Joseph Wolf, 1865 (public domain)

This armadillo is also called the yellow armadillo. It lives from southern Suriname and nearby Brazil south to Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and north-central Argentina. It prefers open areas, savanna, and forest edges.^[41]

Adults measure 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) from head to rump and weigh 3 to 7 kg (6.6 to 15.4 lb). It has 6 to 8 movable bands. It is active mainly during the day. It eats plants, fruit, insects, dead animals, and small vertebrates.

Tidbit: It has 2 to 4 small holes near the back of its shell. Scent glands release a smell through them, which it uses to mark its burrows. Carl Linnaeus named it in 1758.

Photo: Hugo Hulsberg, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

The pichi is also called the dwarf armadillo. It lives in Argentina and Chile, all the way south to the Strait of Magellan. It lives in dry areas with firm, sandy soil, such as the Patagonian steppe.^[43]

Adults weigh 0.7 to 1.5 kg (1.5 to 3.3 lb), and Chile reports a total length of about 40 cm (16 in) including a 12 cm (5 in) tail. It eats mostly insects, but it will eat many other foods.

Tidbit: The pichi is the only xenarthran known to enter torpor and hibernate. From May to August, its body temperature can drop to about 14.5 °C (58 °F). Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest described it in 1804.

Photo: Hugo Hulsberg, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

This is the smallest armadillo in the world. It lives only in central Argentina, in dry and semi-desert areas with loose, sandy soil.^[46]

Argentina’s national parks agency gives a head and body length of 8.4 to 11.7 cm (3.3 to 4.6 in) and a weight of 85 to 120 grams (3 to 4.2 oz). Its pinkish shell is attached to its body only along the middle of its back. It eats ants, beetles, worms, snails, and larvae, plus some seeds and roots.

Tidbit: It has a flat plate on its rear end. It uses this plate to pack loose soil behind it as it tunnels, and to seal the entrance of its burrow.

Richard Harlan, an American naturalist, described it in 1825.

Image: The Naturalist’s Library, 1833 (public domain)

This armadillo is also called Burmeister’s armadillo. It lives in the Gran Chaco of central and southeastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, and far northern Argentina, but only where the soil is loose and sandy.

Adults measure 11.6 to 17.5 cm (4.6 to 6.9 in) from head to rump and weigh 86 to 130 grams (3 to 4.6 oz). It has short, strong forelimbs with big digging claws. A plate set straight up and down at the back of its body gives it a cut-off look.

Tidbit: It spends so much time underground that people rarely see it. Argentina’s national parks agency says almost nothing is known about its biology.

Hermann Burmeister, a German naturalist who ran the natural history museum in Buenos Aires, described it in 1863.

Image: Hermann Burmeister, 1863 (public domain)

This armadillo is also called the La Plata three-banded armadillo. It lives in eastern Bolivia, southwestern Brazil, the Gran Chaco of Paraguay, and northern and central Argentina.^[15]

Adults weigh about 1 to 1.6 kg (2.2 to 3.5 lb). Its shell is stiff and dome-shaped, with usually 3 movable bands. It eats mostly ants and termites.

Tidbit: It can roll into a tight, armored ball. Its shell is not attached to the skin along its sides, which leaves room to tuck in its head, legs, and tail.

Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest described it in 1804.

Photo: Allan Harris, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

This armadillo is the only armadillo found only in Brazil. It lives in the northeast, mainly in the Caatinga, a dry thorn scrub, and in the Cerrado.^[48]

Adults measure 23 to 25 cm (9 to 10 in) from head to rump and weigh 1 to 1.8 kg (2.2 to 4 lb). It eats mainly termites and other small invertebrates.

Tidbit: It inspired Fuleco, the official mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Like its southern cousin, it can roll into a hard ball, though some wild dogs can still break through.

Carl Linnaeus named it in 1758.

Image: Schreber, Die Säugthiere, Plate LXXI (public domain)

This is the largest armadillo alive today. It lives east of the Andes in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. It uses the Amazon rainforest, the Pantanal, and the Cerrado savanna.^[50]

Adults measure 75 to 100 cm (30 to 39 in) from head to rump, plus a tail of about 50 cm (20 in). They weigh 20 to 60 kg (44 to 132 lb). It eats mainly ants and termites. A female usually has 1 young at a time.

Tidbit: The claw on its third front finger measures about 20 cm (8 in) along the curve. Its huge burrows also help other wildlife. A city government in Brazil that tracks these armadillos says their burrows shelter more than 100 kinds of vertebrates.

Robert Kerr, a Scottish surgeon and writer, described it in 1792.

Photo: Naturalist Tours, Wikimedia Commons (CC0)