Yepes's mulita or the Yungas lesser long-nosed armadillo (''Dasypus mazzai)'' is a species of

armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along wi ...

in the family Dasypodidae. It is endemic to Argentina and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. Its natural habitat is

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

dry forests. The species was renamed ''D. yepesi'' because the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

of ''D. mazzai'' was suspected to correspond of other species of ''

Dasypus ''Dasypus'' is the only extant genus in the family Dasypodidae. Its species are known as long-nosed or naked-tailed armadillos. They are found in South, Central, and North America, as well as on the Caribbean islands of Grenada, Trinidad and Toba ...

'', which it was later proved wrong, becoming ''D. yepesi'' a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''D. mazzai''.

Geographic Range

Yepes's mulita is found in the Jujuy and

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

provinces of Argentina, however its range my extend to parts of

and Paraguay. Due to the lack of data on the species, no more than nine populations are known. It is mostly found in altitudes of 450-1800m (1476 ft - 5905 ft). Its habitat ranges from deserts to humid forests.

Use and trade

The species is known to be hunted locally for food.

Conservation

Because so little is known about Yepes's mulita, it is listed as "Data Deficient" by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. There is ongoing deforestation in its range and its habitat is considered fragmented, which adds to the conservation concerns. The species has been designated for protection in Parque Nacional Calilegua and Parque Nacional El Rey in northern Argentina.

References

Armadillos Fauna of Argentina Fauna of Bolivia Mammals of Argentina Mammals of Bolivia Least concern biota of South America Mammals described in 1995 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{mammal-stub