Ancient parasites from endemic deer from CUEVA PARQUE DIANA archeological site, Patagonia, Argentina

BELTRAME M. ORNELA; TIETZE ELEONOR; PEREZ ALBERTO; BELLUSCI AGUSTÍN; SARDELLA NORMA H.

PARASITOLOGY RESEARCH

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2017 vol. 116 p. 1523 - 1531

0932-0113

The narrow Andean-Patagonian temperaterainforest strip in the west of southern South Americais inhabited by two endemic species of cervids, thesouthern pudu (Pudu puda) and the huemul(Hippocamelus bisulcus), both cataloged as near threatenedand threatened species, respectively. One of thepossible causes of their declined number is the susceptibilityto livestock diseases. Significant zooarchaeological records ofboth deer have been found throughout the Holocene fromPatagonia. The present contribution reports the firstpaleoparasitological results obtained from coprolites of endemicdeer from the archeological site BCueva ParqueDiana, Neuquén Province, Argentina, and discusses the possiblediseases found in ancient times. Thirty-four coproliteswere fully processed, rehydrated, homogenized, sieved, subjectedto spontaneous sedimentation, and examined by lightmicroscopy. Thirty samples contained parasite remains. Thepresence of diverse parasitic diseases such as trematodioses,metastrongylosis, trichuriosis, strongylida gastroenteritis,dioctophymosis, and coccidiosis which could cause diseasesin deer previous to the arrival of European livestock and thepresence of zoonotic diseases in the hunters-gatherers andfishermen are discussed.