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Discovery of a 240 million year old nematode parasite egg in a cynodont coprolite sheds light on the early origin of pinworms in vertebrates

Overview of attention for article published in Parasites & Vectors, November 2014
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Among the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#22 of 5,710)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (98th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
17 news outlets
blogs
2 blogs
twitter
7 X users
wikipedia
3 Wikipedia pages

Citations

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41 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
48 Mendeley
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Title
Discovery of a 240 million year old nematode parasite egg in a cynodont coprolite sheds light on the early origin of pinworms in vertebrates
Published in
Parasites & Vectors, November 2014
DOI 10.1186/s13071-014-0486-6
Pubmed ID
Authors

Jean-Pierre Hugot, Scott L Gardner, Victor Borba, Priscilla Araujo, Daniela Leles, Átila Augusto Stock Da-Rosa, Juliana Dutra, Luiz Fernando Ferreira, Adauto Araújo

Abstract

BackgroundWe report the discovery of a nematode parasite egg (Nemata: Oxyurida) from a coprolite closely associated with the remains of several species of Cynodontia, dated to 240 million years old. This finding is particularly significant because this is the oldest record of an oxyurid nematode yet discovered, and because the cynodonts are considered a stem-group of the mammals.MethodsWe extracted material from a fully mineralized coprolite by both scraping the surface, and removing fragments from its interior with clean dental instruments used a single time. A single drop of glycerol from a new vial was added as a clearing reagent. Each slide was sealed with wax and examined with an optical microscope at 100× to 400× magnification.ResultsFrom one coprolite, 550 slides were examined; from 275 of these slides, sediment was examined that was scraped from the surface of the coprolite, and from the other 275 slides, material was examined that was extracted from the interior of the coprolite. All microscopic structures encountered were photographed, measured, and identified when possible.ConclusionsFrom the coprolite examined, we discovered an egg representing a new species of pinworm that, based on the egg structure, clearly places it in the family Heteroxynematidae. Nematodes of the order Oxyurida have very constrained life-histories, occurring only in animals that are not strictly carnivorous and also ingest large amounts of plant material. This fact enabled us to determine which species of cynodont, from several collected at the site in Brazil, are most likely the depositors of the coprolite, and therefore were the putative host of the parasite.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 7 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 48 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
France 2 4%
United States 1 2%
Unknown 45 94%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 11 23%
Student > Doctoral Student 8 17%
Student > Master 6 13%
Student > Ph. D. Student 3 6%
Other 3 6%
Other 5 10%
Unknown 12 25%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 10 21%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 7 15%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 4 8%
Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine 3 6%
Environmental Science 2 4%
Other 9 19%
Unknown 13 27%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 142. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 August 2023.
All research outputs
#271,279
of 24,242,692 outputs
Outputs from Parasites & Vectors
#22
of 5,710 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#2,729
of 263,413 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Parasites & Vectors
#1
of 112 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,242,692 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,710 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 263,413 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 112 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.