Southern three-banded armadillo
Amazing fact
Tolypeutes matacus traps air inside its shell, helping retain body heat.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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Tolypeutes matacus traps air inside its shell, helping retain body heat.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Southern three-banded armadillo
- Scientific name
- Tolypeutes matacus
- Japanese name
- マタコミツオビアルマジロ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Cingulata
- Family
- Tolypeutidae
- Genus
- Tolypeutes
Where the name “Southern three-banded armadillo” comes from
The “mitsuobi” part of its Japanese name refers to the bands on its back.
埼玉県こども動物自然公園An armadillo of central South America that lives in grasslands and marshes near dry forests.
The skin on its back has become a hard shell. When in danger, it rolls up into a ball to protect itself.
It mainly eats ants and termites, digging into their nests or under tree bark with its strong legs and big claws.
How the Southern three-banded armadillo lives
It usually lives apart from others. In cold weather, it sometimes gathers with others. It makes its den in an abandoned anteater burrow or under dense vegetation.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- Body length: about 300 mmUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Weight
- 1.4–1.6 kgUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Diet
- Mainly ants and termitesUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Range
- Eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and central Brazil to central Argentina埼玉県こども動物自然公園
Where the Southern three-banded armadillo has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- マタコミツオビアルマジロ
- 简体中文
- 拉河三带犰狳
- 繁體中文
- 拉河三帶犰狳
- 한국어
- 남방세띠아르마딜로
- Español
- Corechi
- Français
- Tatou à trois bandes du Sud
- Deutsch
- Südliches Kugelgürteltier
- Português (Brasil)
- Mataco
- Italiano
- Mataco
- العربية
- مدرع جنوبي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Armadilo tiga-garis selatan
- Русский
- Шаровидный броненосец
- Türkçe
- Güney Üçbant Armadillosu
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 埼玉県こども動物自然公園 — マタコミツオビアルマジロChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Tolypeutes matacusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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