Beautiful Armadillo

Taxobox
name = Beautiful Armadillo
fossil_range = late Pliocene to late Pleistocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Cingulata
familia = Dasypodidae
genus = "Dasypus"
species = †"D. bellus"
species_authority = (Simpson, 1930)
binomial = †"Dasypus bellus"
synonyms = †"Tatu bellus" Simpson, 1930

The whimsically named Beautiful Armadillo is an extinct armadillo species which lived in the United States from roughly 2 million years ago to 10,000 years ago.cite web | last = | first = | title = The Paleobiology Database query for "Dasypus bellus" | date = | url = http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=45559&is_real_user=1 | accessdate = 2007-11-03 ] Its fossils are known primarily from the southeastern United States, but records extend west to New Mexico and north to Iowa and Indiana.cite web | last = | first = | title = FaunMap query for "Dasypus bellus" | date = | url = http://mapserver.museum.state.il.us/faunmapweb/faunmap.phtml?Age=ALL&Form=scientific&Taxon=DYbe&dist=y | accessdate = 2007-11-03 ] Apart from its relatively large size (just over three feet in length), it was very similar to the Nine-banded Armadillo. It may have been able to roll up into a ball.

References

External links

* [http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/dasypus.html The Beautiful Armadillo]