Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) Records in New Mexico, USA

New Mexico represents the western range limit of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the United States, although the nearest known established populations are in adjacent western Texas (Layne, 2003). Early records of armadillos in New Mexico were based on incidental observations (Findley et al., 1975). Stuart and Knight (1998) provided a comprehensive synopsis of scattered literature records and additional new observations of the armadillo in New Mexico, although that publication is difficult to access. Most recently, Stuart et al. (2007) provided records of the first armadillo specimens collected and preserved in the state and a map of all known locality records of armadillos in New Mexico, but did not give details about previous records. They concluded that while many records were likely the result of human intervention, at least some from southeastern New Mexico were possibly of natural origin and that suitable habitat exists in this part of the state (Stuart et al., 2007). Herein we provide a complete synopsis of all records of Dasypus novemcinctus in New Mexico known to us, including localities, dates, and sources of information. A map of these locations (Figure 1) shows that records are from the eastern third of New Mexico, which delineates the northwestern range limits of the species as currently understood. Each record is provided as a direct quote of the locality data taken from the cited source. Additional data on a record are in brackets and the reference is in parentheses. Bold numbers in parentheses correspond to localities mapped in Figure 1 and in several cases refer to two or more records from the same locality or geographically similar locations. Abbreviations include: DOR = dead on road; MSB = Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico.