The International Union for Conservation of Nature used to consider it a "vulnerable species" but has changed this assessment to "data deficient" because so little is known about the animal and the threats it faces.

The armour consists of ossified dermal plates composed of a number of movable bands covered by leathery skin.

[4] It has a distinctive coat of long reddish-brown or grayish-brown fur which grows through tiny pores in its armour.

[5] This armadillo is endemic to Peru, where it is found on the eastern side of the Andes Mountains.

Its habitat is the Yungas, a stretch of subtropical, deciduous and evergreen forests along the eastern slopes of the mountains.