Nuevos Datos de Presencia deChaetophractus villosusen la Cuenca Del Río Carcarañá, Sur de la Provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina

We report 50 new records of Chaetophractus villosus for southern Santa Fe Province (Argentina) and discuss their relationship with environmental variables. The study area is located in the Carcarañá River basin within the Pampean ecoregion, one of the most modified natural ecosystems in the world. The large hairy armadillo was recorded in two of the four environmental units sampled, with 42 records found in cropland and eight in dry woodland. The number of evidences varied between environments and seasons. The relative abundance was nearly identical in different environments (farmland: 0.17 tracks/km; dry woodland: 0.16 tracks/km). There was, however, a differential use of the environments. Records in the dry forests were limited to autumn and winter, which suggests that forested areas are important refuges for large hairy armadillos when farmlands lack high vegetation cover.