A new ascarid species in cynodont coprolite dated of 240 million years

Priscilla A Da Silva,Adauto Araujo,Victor H Borba,Juliana M.F Dutra,Daniela Leles,Luiz F Ferreira,Atila A.S Da-Rosa

doi:10.1590/0001-3765201320130036

Abstract

Cynodonts represent the transition from reptiles to mammals. They are classified as synapsids, or tetrapod animals with mammalian characteristics. We present here the finding of helminth eggs in a coprolite identified as of cynodont origin dated of nearly 240 million years. Microscopy revealed the presence of very well preserved intestinal parasite eggs. Up to now we identified an ascarid egg by morphological characteristics. Based on a previous description of the new genus Ascarites Poinar Jr and Boucot 2006 in coprolites of iguanodons from Belgium, we propose a new species, Ascarites rufferi n.sp. in cynodonts, a host that inhabited the Southern Region of Brazil in the Triassic period.

Highlights

The finding of coprolites – desiccated, fossilized or permineralized feces - associated with skeletons of extinct animals is not uncommon (Souto 2000, 2011)
Parasite eggs and cysts have been found in different extinct animals, such as unidentified nematode eggs in a giant sloth (Ringuelet 1957); oocysts of two new species of Coccidia Archeococcidia antiques and Archeococcidea nothrotheriopsae in coprolite of a giant sloth (Schmidt et al 1992); nematode larva in an extinct hyena species (Ferreira et al 1993); Toxocara canis eggs in an extinct hyena species (Bouchet et al 2003); Paleoleishmania proterus in blood from the digestive tract of a sandfly preserved in amber (Poinar Jr and Poinar 2004); three new genera of fungi from two categories, mycorrhizal and
On this paper we describe a new species of ascarid found in a herbivorous cynodont coprolite from the Triassic of Southern Brazil

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The finding of coprolites – desiccated, fossilized or permineralized feces - associated with skeletons of extinct animals is not uncommon (Souto 2000, 2011). The finding of cynodont coprolites in a fossiliferous deposit is first reported These animals are classified as tetrapods synapsids of the order Therapsida that includes mammaliamorph reptiles (Schultz and Langer 2007), which appeared at the end of Permian (Benton and Harper 2009). The non-mammalian cynodonts are classified as either carnivores or herbivores; these last are called gonfodonts (Battail 1983, Benton 2005, Schultz and Langer 2007) They were almost vanished with the mass extinction of the Permo-Triassic, which extinguished 90% of animal species, but after that the cynodonts have diversified and dominated the Triassic period (Benton 2005).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RESULTS

DISCUSSION