Estudo paleopatológico em Xenarthra Folivora (Mammalia) do Quaternário da região intertropical brasileira

Abstract

Paleopathology is the science that deals with the study of diseases in ancient organisms. Usually, the study of diseases in ancient organisms is restrict to bones and tooth due preservation conditions, which favor hard tissues. In the Brazilian fossil record, paleopathological studies have been rare, despite of large quantity of collected fossils, mainly in the Quaternary. In this work, we carried out a paleopathological analysis in nine extinct ground sloths species (Xenarthra, Folivora) from Quaternary of the Brazilian Intertropical Region (RIB), including: Nothrotherium maquinense, Ahytherium aureum, Australonyx aquae, Valgipes bucklandi, Catonyx cuvieri, Mylodonopsis ibseni, Glossotherium sp. Ocnotherium giganteum and Eremotherium laurillardi. The specimens studied were collected in different fossiliferous deposits – caves, shelter and natural tanks – located in the Piauí, Pernambuco, Bahia and Minas Gerais states, corresponding to 4432 bones. We diagnosed six distinct types of joint lesions (spondyloarthropathy, calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease, osteoarthritis, spondylosis deformans, Schmorl’s node and osteochondritis dessecans), trauma, unspecific infection, granulomatous infection (tuberculosis and/or brucellosis) and a benign bone tumor. Ocnotherium giganteum was the species with the highest number of diagnosed diseases, while Australonyx aquae was the only species without lesions. Spondyloarthropathy and CPPD were the diseases most often observed