2 
John J. Mayer 
deposited in the Charleston Museum. A subsequent check with other 
biologists at this site resulted in six additional reports of roadkilled 
armadillos in Aiken, Allendale, and Beaufort counties in South Carolina 
during the spring and summer of 1985. The frequency of these sightings 
suggests that this species is present in higher numbers in South Carolina 
than had been suspected previously. 
A second adult male nine-banded armadillo was discovered alive at 
an elementary school in Williston, Barnwell County, on 26 June 1986 
after becoming trapped in a drainage well. The animal was captured by 
state wildlife personnel and later sent to the South Carolina State 
Museum Commission. 
A survey of the mammal collections in South Carolina resulted in 
the location of another specimen and one additional sight record 
(Charleston Museum files) from the state. The specimen (ChM CM1 142) 
was taken alive in a barn in Bonneau, Berkeley County, in the mid- 
1970s; it was later sent to the Charleston Museum where it was prepared 
as a study skin. The additional sight record was from Piedmont, 
Greenville County, in 1941. 
In an effort to assess the recent population status and distribution 
of this species in South Carolina, a questionnaire was sent to state 
wildlife biologists, state wildlife law enforcement officers, superinten- 
dents of the national forests in the state, and managers of the national 
wildlife refuges in the state. The questionnaire requested details 
concerning any recent sightings of this species in the respondent’s area 
of South Carolina or any other sightings in the state known to the 
respondent. It also asked whether or not the respondent believed that 
the nine-banded armadillo was established in South Carolina. The 
response to the 246 questionnaires was 57%. 
Eleven respondents (8%) reported a total of 15 recent sightings of 
the nine-banded armadillo in South Carolina, most of which were from 
the southern portion of the state (Fig. 1). Most reports (73%) were of 
roadkills along interstate highways and primary and secondary state 
roads. Of the live sightings, two were seen along roadsides, one was 
captured near a motel in Florence, Florence County, and one was 
killed in a chicken coop by a farmer in Brunson, Hampton County. 
Ninety-nine percent of the respondents did not believe that the nine- 
banded armadillo was established in South Carolina at this time. Of the 
two respondents who did believe this species to be established in the 
state, only one reported any sightings. Two respondents stated that 
they had encountered persons who either had been found in South 
Carolina with armadillos that had been captured in Florida for release 
in South Carolina or were in the process of capturing armadillos in 
southern Georgia for transport to and release in South Carolina. 
