First report in pre-Columbian mummies from Bolivia of Enterobius vermicularis infection and capillariid eggs: A contribution to Paleoparasitology studies.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to search for ancient parasites in abdominal content and coprolites from Bolivian mummies. MATERIALS: Twelve mummified individuals from the Andean highlands, housed at the National Museum of Archaeology (MUNARQ) in La Paz, Bolivia. METHODS: Microscopic analysis of rehydrated samples (coprolites and abdominal content), following Lutz's spontaneous sedimentation technique. RESULTS: Eggs of Enterobius vermicularis were identified in coprolites from one mummy, and capillariid eggs in the organic abdominal content from another individual. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first evidence of ancient intestinal parasites in Bolivian mummies. SIGNIFICANCE: This pioneering study focused on the search of ancient intestinal parasites in human remains of the Bolivian Andes and contributes to greater knowledge of paleoparasitology in South America. LIMITATIONS: All mummies in the MUNARQ belonged to the Andean Bolivian highlands (post-Tiwanaku era or Late Intermediate Period), although the exact provenance of the material and the associated contexts are not well recorded. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: Considering the great number of well-known archaeological sites and other unexplored sites in Bolivia, in addition to large collections in museums, further paleopathological and paleoparasitological molecular studies in mummies and skeletons are called for.

Two new species of ascaridoid nematodes in Brazilian Crocodylomorpha from the Upper Cretaceous.

Two new ascaridoid species, Bauruascaris cretacicus n. gen. et n. sp., and Bauruascaris adamantinensis n. gen. et n. sp., are described based on the fossils of eggs preserved in 80-70 million year old phosphatized coprolites of Crocodyliformes, chronologically assigned to the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian/Maastrichtian age), collected from sedimentary rocks of the Bauru Group, Adamantina Formation in the municipality of Santo Anastácio, in the southwestern region of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, South America. This paper describes the oldest ascaridoid species ever recorded in Crocodylomorpha. Hence, this article contributes to the body of knowledge about the evolutionary history of this nematode group. It also offers a clue about the composition of the parasite fauna of these reptiles from the Late Cretaceous, which is still unknown despite numerous studies about various aspects of their biology and the pioneering paleoparasitological analysis of animal coprolites by South American researchers.