Introduction

The carapace of the armadillos is superimposed across the neck, pectoral apparatus, ribcage, and lumbar. There are a coalesced series of osteoderms situated dorsal to the head and the tail, and it is absent in the ventral surface of the body. Osteoderms appear in different geometric morphologies along of the carapace with two major phenotypes, polygonal and rectangular.

Objectives

This is a partial result referent to research project that it will be evaluated 15 Dasypus novemcinctus on radiography and computed tomography (CT). Nevertheless, the aim of this study is to describe features of the carapace in an animal of this species by CT.

Methods

A corpse of an adult nine-banded armadillo was acquired to perform CT examination. It was positioned in ventral recumbency using equipment helical SHIMADZU® SCT-7800TC with thickness slices of 3 x 3 mm. CT images was evaluation by DICOM system on Synapse PACS FUJIFILM®.

Results

Osteoderm phenotypes were observed on tomography images with rectangular aspect in the first couple tail rings (Image 1) and tightly grouped series of transversely arranged imbricating bands in the banded shield. In the rest of the tail, the osteoderms appear polygonal phenotype as well as in the head and in the pectoral and pelvic shields. Three-dimensional reconstruction of carapace showed 473.58 cm³ of volume and 618.3 HU (SD = 370.8) (Image 2).

Image 1 Tomography on transversal plans showing the two different osteoderm phenotypes: (A) rectangular phenotype on level of the ninth band, (B) polygonal phenotype on level of the pelvic shield, and (C) rectangular phenotype on first couple tail rings and polygonal phenotype in the rest of the tail.

Image 2

Conclusions

By this partial result, we can conclude two different osteoderm phenotypes in specific areas of carapace and body by computed tomography of the nine-banded armadillo.