Paleoparasitological analysis of rodent coprolites in Pleistocenic - Holocenic samples from Patagonia, Argentina.

BELTRAME MO, SARDELLA NH, FUGASSA MH, BARBERENA R.

Río de Janeiro

Congreso; XXII Congreso Brasileiro de Parasitologia; 2011

Sociedad Brasilera de Parasitología

Rodents are considered as important components of biodiversity, as food items for predators, as disseminators of seeds and spores, and as hosts of numerous parasites, including several of zoonotic importance. The aim of the present study was to examine the parasite fauna present in rodent coprolites collected from Cueva Huenul 1 (CH1) (36º56´45"S ? 69º47´32"W), northern Neuquén (Patagonia, Argentina), an archaeological site that provides stratified sequences of archaeological and paleontological remains assigned to the late-Pleistocene / early-Holocene period. Twenty-five rodent coprolites proceeding from different stratigraphic units, with radiocarbon ages of 13.8445 ± 75 yr B.P. (units VIII and VII), 11.841 ± 56 yr. B.P. (VII-IV), 9531 ± 39 yr. B.P. (IV), and 1416 ± 37 (III-I) yr B.P., were examined for parasites. Each coprolite was whole processed, rehydrated, homogenized, spontaneously sedimented, and examined using light microscopy. Coprolites and eggs of parasites were described, measured and photographed. Coprolites were positive for Cestoda and Nematoda. Eggs of cestodes were thick-shelled, 4-lobed in shape, with an elongate pyriform apparatus surrounding the oncosphere, as exhibited by cestodes of the Order Cyclophyllidea, Family Anoplochephalidae, parasites of zoonotic importance. The life-cycle of these cestodes are indirect, with acari (oribatids) as intermediate hosts. Eggs of oxyurids were flattened on one side, thick-shelled and with an operculum on one extreme. They belonged to Order Oxyurida, Superfamily Oxyuroidea, Family Oxyurida). These nematodes are strictly monoxenous and frequently found in modern rodents. In this study, the taxonomic identification of parasites and hosts examined, their life-cycles, and the importance of rodents in the studied area in the archaeological site are discussed.