Abstract

FERREIRA, Luiz Fernando; ARAUJO, Adauto; CONFALONIERI, Ulisses  and  CHAME, Marcia. Acanthocefalan eggs in animal coprolites from archaeological sites from Brazil. Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz [online]. 1989, vol.84, n.2, pp. 201-203. ISSN 0074-0276.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0074-02761989000200007.

An important point in paleoparasitology is the correct diagnosis of the origin of coprolites found in archaelogical sites. The identification of human and animal coprolites, through the study of the shape, size, charactheristics after rehydration, alimentary contents, and the presence of parasites, has proved to be accurate for human coprolites. For non-human ones we compared coprolites with recent faeces of animals collected near the archaeological sites, following the methodology above mentioned. In this paper anteaters coprolites (Tamandua tetradactyla; Mymecophaga tridactyla) with eggs of Gigantorhynchus echinodiscus (Archiancanthocephala; Gigantorynchidae) were identified.

Keywords : Paleoparasitology; animal coprolites; acanthocephalan eggs in coproltes.