Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Parasitos, Departamento de Microbiologia e Parasitologia, Instituto Biomédico, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, 21041-210, Brazil.
J Parasitol. 2021 Mar 1;107(2):275-283. doi: 10.1645/20-30.
Parasitism is inherent to life and observed in all species. Extinct animals have been studied to understand what they looked like, where and how they lived, what they fed on, and the reasons they became extinct. Paleoparasitology helps to clarify these questions based on the study of the parasites and microorganisms that infected those animals, using as a source material coprolites, fossils in rock, tissue, bone, mummy, and amber, analyses of ancient DNA, immunodiagnosis, and microscopy.
寄生现象是生命的固有特征,存在于所有物种中。为了了解灭绝动物的外貌、生活地点和方式、食物来源以及灭绝原因,人们对它们进行了研究。古寄生虫学通过研究感染这些动物的寄生虫和微生物,利用粪化石、岩石中的化石、组织、骨骼、木乃伊和琥珀等作为材料,分析古代 DNA、免疫诊断和显微镜检查等方法,来帮助阐明这些问题。