Hiding in a Cool Climatic Niche in the Tropics? An Assessment of the Ecological Biogeography of Hairy Long-Nosed Armadillos (Dasypus pilosus)

The hairy long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus pilosus) is endemic to the Andes in Peru and rarely studied, thus more investigations are needed. To gain a better understanding of this species' distribution and to facilitate future surveys and conservation management, we compiled available information on specimens of D. pilosus, provided an ecological biogeography perspective of these specimens, and estimated suitable areas for D. pilosus using ecological niche modeling. We compiled 25 specimen records from six departments in Peru and extracted the climatic and elevation conditions for records with coordinates. We concluded that D. pilosus may occupy relatively high elevation sites, hiding in a relatively cool climatic niche at tropical latitude. We suggested possible upper and lower temperature limits for D. pilosus and lower precipitation limit for the genus Dasypus. The ecological niche model estimated that about half of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) range map was not suitable for D. pilosus and predicted additional suitable areas outside the IUCN range map in Amazonas and Cajamarca departments, Peru. We recommend that future field surveys or conservation management efforts prioritize regions associated with suitable areas predicted by our model and with species' available records (e.g., Rio Abiseo).