Life Sciences Commons^™

Application Of Autofluorescence For Confocal Microscopy To Aid In Archaeoparasitological Analyses, Johnica Jo Morrow, Christian Elowsky

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to examine archaeoparasitological specimens from coprolites associated with La Cueva de los Muertos Chiquitos (CMC) located near present-day Durango, Mexico. The eggs for 4 different types of parasites recovered from CMC coprolites were imaged using CLSM to assist with identification efforts. While some of the parasite eggs recovered from CMC coprolites were readily identified using standard light microscopy (LM), CLSM provided useful data for more challenging identifications by highlighting subtle morphological features and enhancing visualization of parasite egg anatomy. While other advanced microscopy techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), may also detect …