Mariella Superina is the Chair of the IUCN SSC Anteater, Sloth and Armadillo Specialist Group. After graduating from University of Zurich, Switzerland, she obtained a doctoral degree in Veterinary Medicine from University of Zurich (thesis: Biology and Maintenance of Armadillos, Dasypodidae). In 2007, she concluded her Ph.D. in Conservation Biology at University of New Orleans (dissertation: Natural History of the Pichi (Zaedyus pichiy) in Mendoza Province, Argentina).

She is now a Research Scientist with CONICET in Mendoza Province, where she studies the conservation biology and conservation medicine of armadillos, as well as the ecoepidemiology of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, using a One Health approach.

She is also an associate researcher of Fundación Omacha, Colombia, and the coordinator of the Conservation and Management Program for the Armadillos of the Llanos of Colombia.

Nadia de Moraes-Barros is the Deputy Chair of our Specialist Group. She graduated in Biological Sciences from University of São Paulo (USP – Brazil). In 2003, she concluded her Ph.D. in Biology (Genetics) at the Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP) where she started to work in phylogeography and population genetics of sloths in a collaborative work with the Department of Parks and Forested Areas – The City of São Paulo Secretary of Environment. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology and Vertebrate Conservation, as external supervisor at the Graduate Program in Biology- Genetics (Labec, IB-USP – 2004 to 2014), and later, as assistant researcher at CIBIO-InBIO, University of Porto, Portugal (2013 to 2019). She is the co-founder and currently the Scientific Coordinator of Freeland Brasil. Her research encompasses phylogeography, conservation genetics, and phylogeny of Neotropical mammals, specially sloths, and the use of genetics as a tool to evaluate the impacts of wildlife trafficking on the survival of species.

More details about Nadia’s research and publications can be found on her Lattes Platform-CNPq.

Andy Boss received his PhD in Geography from the University of Florida (UF), where he currently serves as adjunct and coordinates the Master of Sustainable Development Practice program. He worked for 15 years with Wildlife Conservation Society in Bolivia and Ecuador.

In Bolivia he collaborated with Erika Cuéllar to support conservation and community wildlife management with indigenous Isoseño-Guaraní, Chiquitano, and Ayoreode communities in the Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco landscape. Five species of armadillos are important prey species for subsistence hunters. In Ecuador he supported landscape conservation efforts by indigeous organizations in the Amazon (Waodani, Cofán, Kichwa, Sápara) and Chocó (Awá, Chachi) regions.

He has also worked extensively with camera trap surveys for mammals in both countries.

After completing her Master’s degree in Natural Sciences in Croatia, Tinka Plese worked for two years in the doctoral program at the University of Miami. She has been living in Colombia since 1988. In 1996 she received two sloths for their rehabilitation and reintroduction. Since then she has developed various activities related to the conservation of sloths and other xenarthrans, as well as other threatened wildlife species.

Tinka is the founder and head of AIUNAU Foundation, which works in different fields of research, such as natural and medical sciences, wildlife rehabilitation, environmental education and awareness.

She also works with communities that extract wildlife.

Colleen McDonough received her B.S. in zoology from University of Wisconsin at Madison.  She started studying nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) while at the University of California at Davis, where she received her Ph.D. in Animal Behavior in 1992. 

At present, she is a professor in the Biology Department at Valdosta State University in Georgia, USA where she works with her husband, Jim Loughry.  Over the last 20 years, their research has focused on effects of polyembryony on ecology and behavior of nine-banded armadillos.  They mostly work with D. novemcinctus in the United States, but conducted research in Brazil for a short time. Currently, they are investigating incidences of leprosy in the southeastern United States.

In addition Colleen is looking at potential interactions between nine-banded armadillos and gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus).

Jim Loughry received a PhD in Animal Behavior from the University of California at Davis in 1987. Since 1991 he has been at Valdosta State University in Georgia, USA, where he is currently a Professor of Biology. Together with his wife, Dr. Colleen McDonough (also a specialist group member), he has been studying nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) for most of his career.

Their research has covered a number of different topics, including population genetics, various ecological and behavioral studies, and the consequences of polyembryonic reproduction. At the moment, they are investigating patterns and consequences of armadillos becoming infected with Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent in producing leprosy.  More details about this and other aspects of Jim’s research can be found on his home page.  

Jim was one of the co-editors of The Biology of the Xenarthra (University Press of Florida, 2008). In 2013 he and Colleen published a book about the nine-banded armadillo (The Nine-banded Armadillo: A Natural History, University of Oklahoma Press).

Roberto Aguilar has a DVM degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He is a European Zoological Medicine expert in zoo health management, and a wildlife veterinarian with extensive experience with captive and wild xenarthrans.

He was a clinical veterinarian at the Tucson Wildlife Center in Tucson, Arizona, USA. He is also involved in numerous field studies in Latin America.

Roberto is retired and living in Central Mexico. He lectures all over Latin America and participated in several Masters programs.

Flávia Miranda obtained her degree in veterinary medicine at Universidade de Londrina, Brazil and did a post-graduate course in clinical wildlife medicine at UNISA.   

She concluded her Master’s Degree in Applied Ecology  at University of São Paulo with aresearch project on Brucella,   Leptospira and Chlamydophila-serology in wild giant anteaters in the Pantanal and Cerrado. For her PhD in Zoology, she did a taxonomical study of silky anteaters (Cyclopes didactylus) and descr ibed six new Cyclopes species. Flávia coordinates the Instituto de Pesquisa e Conservação de Tamanduás no Brasil (Instituto Tamanduá), an NGO dedicated to the conservation of Xenarthra. She is a University professor at the University of Santa Cruz-UESC. Flávia is an expert both in captive and wild anteaters.

She is currently doing fieldwork with anteaters, tamanduas and silky anteaters in different biomes. In addition, she has recently initiated a conservation project for maned three-toed sloths in the Atlantic forest.  

Maria Clara Arteaga graduated as a biologist from University of Antioquia, Colombia. She completed a Master’s degree at INPA (Brazil) and later a doctoral degree at UNAM (Mexico). During her graduate studies, Maria studied ecological and evolutionary aspects of armadillos. She has conducted research on the effect of fragmentation on the habitat use of several species of Cingulata.

During several years she also studied the geographic distribution of the genetic variation of nine-banded armadillos and the evolutionary mechanisms related to the patterns of diversity and divergence of this species. Maria is currently a researcher at CICESE (Mexico).

She is interested in understanding the effect of historical and ecological factors on the genetic and phenotypic diversity of populations.

Erin Earl has a Masters Degree in Earth Sciences from Cambridge University, England. She has been living and working in Guyana for more than 10 years, where she is part of the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS).

The SRCS is made up almost entirely of indigenous people with a passion to care for the Rupununi’s savannah and forest ecosystem. Its members had long noticed a decline in giant anteater numbers, so they created a plan to monitor and protect the anteaters before it was too late. Since 2019, Erin has been leading a team of SRCS rangers and researchers in 4 communities. The ultimate aim of all their research is conservation, so by training and employing local people, sharing their discoveries, involving school children, and holding village events that celebrate nature (and anteaters and armadillos in particular), Erin and her team are bringing conservation into the forefront of people’s plans for the future of the Rupununi.

Alessandra Bertassoni is a biologist and has Ph.D. in Animal Biology from São Paulo State University (Unesp), Brazil. Since 2019, she is a post-doctoral fellow at Goiás Federal University (UFG), performing research on conservation biology and Neotropical mammalian species, mainly xenarthrans. She is collaborating with some conservation initiatives in Brazil focusing on anteaters, the Instituto de Pesquisa e Conservação de Tamanduás no Brasil (Instituto Tamanduá), the TamanduAsas program (IEF-MG and Nobilis Fauna) and Institute for the Conservation of Wild Animals (ICAS). Alessandra participated in the development of the Brazilian Action Plan for giant anteaters and giant armadillos (ICMBio 2019). The species she most works with are the anteaters Myrmecophaga tridactyla and Tamandua tetradactyla. More recently, she started working with species modeling, camera trapping, and field monitoring to answer ecological questions and fill knowledge gaps on the life history and behavior of Xenarthra.

More details about Alessandra’s research and publications can be found on her CNPq home page (http://lattes.cnpq.br/8479381420896766) and Research Gate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alessandra-Bertassoni).

Kenny Coogan is the Education Coordinator for our Specialist Group. After graduating from University at Buffalo, New York, he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Animal Behavior and worked in zoos and an aquarium for ten years working with two-fingered sloths, tamanduas, three and nine-banded armadillos. He then moved onto the education sector, teaching middle school students and teaching teachers about biology, ecology and evolution. 

He then earned a Master’s degree in Global Sustainability and is continuing his passion for conservation education by creating xenarthran content, videos, and accompanying lessons and scheduling webinars for the Specialist Group. If you have content for our social media platforms or are interested in presenting a webinar for the Specialist Group please contact Kenny via the link below.

Kenny’s favorite xenarthrans include maned sloths, naked-tailed armadillos, tamanduas and any xenarthran that is in front of him. 

Enrique González is Curator of Mammals at the National Museum of Natural History of Uruguay (Ministry of Education and Culture). He has degrees in Social Communication, University Technician in Museology (UdelaR, Uruguay), a Diploma in Management and Conservation of Natural Resources (Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mexico) and is finishing a Master’s Degree in Integrated Coastal Management (UdelaR). He has published more than 90 articles and book chapters and three books on the fauna of Uruguay and South America, with emphasis on systematics, ecology, parasitology, faunistics and conservation of Uruguayan mammals, including Xenarthrans.