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Coprolites as Proxies for Paleoparasitology at Pilauco

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Pilauco: A Late Pleistocene Archaeo-paleontological Site

Part of the book series: The Latin American Studies Book Series ((LASBS))

Abstract

Coprolites are trace fossils. One of the ways to determine the presence of coprolites is to determine the presence of parasites in them. The four coprolites analysed here were collected in situ from the fossil-bearing layer PB-8. The paleoparasitological analyses were performed in two steps, the first is to confirm the classification of the sampled material as coprolites, and in the second place, to develop new analyses to add new parasite taxa. We used the diagnostic parasitological sedimentation–flotation technique to carry out the microscopic analyses. The same protocol was used in some sediment samples tacked in adjacent levels to the coprolites. Only the studied fossils and not the sediments contain parasitic eggs, which indicate faecal or intestinal origin and can be therefore considered as coprolites. The occurrence of eggs from Anoplocephala sp. indicate that the host was a horse, whereas Moniezia sp. can be correlated with deer and camelids.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Palaeontology Master Program, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Leonora Salvadores-Cerda

  2. LabNat Pilauco, Valdivia, Chile

    Felipe Ramírez-Mercado

Authors
  1. Leonora Salvadores-Cerda
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  2. Felipe Ramírez-Mercado
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Correspondence to Leonora Salvadores-Cerda .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Mario Pino

  2. Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Giselle A. Astorga

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Salvadores-Cerda, L., Ramírez-Mercado, F. (2020). Coprolites as Proxies for Paleoparasitology at Pilauco. In: Pino , M., Astorga, G. (eds) Pilauco: A Late Pleistocene Archaeo-paleontological Site. The Latin American Studies Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23918-3_13

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