Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Morphology and biometry of the thymus gland in macaw of Ara and Anodorhynchus genera

Twelve samples of Ara ararauna - six females and six males -, five samples of Ara chloropterus (one female and four males) and two samples of Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus (one female and one male), all adults from a Breeding Park, were used after natural death. The lobes were dissected and measured with electronic calliper (length x width x thickness) and analyzed taking their weight, topography and individual morphology into account. Regardless of gender, 89.5% of the cases presented timic lobes in the left and right cervical antimere, and 42.1% of the cases presented lobes in the celomatic cavity. The lobes were shown in shapes - long (52.6%), round (21.1%) or oval (15.8%), positioned mostly ventromedially, along the neurovascular plexus of the neck, with an average of five lobes per antimere, and an average size of 0.49cm length, 0.12cm width, and 0.05cm thick and average weight of 0.076g.

Macaws; compared anatomy; wild birds; thymus gland morphology


Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Escola de Veterinária Caixa Postal 567, 30123-970 Belo Horizonte MG - Brazil, Tel.: (55 31) 3409-2041, Tel.: (55 31) 3409-2042 - Belo Horizonte - MG - Brazil
E-mail: abmvz.artigo@gmail.com