Coleta e preparação de pelos de mamiferos para a identificação em microscopia ótica

prepar eparação mamífer eros Coleta e preparação de pêlos de mamíferos para identificação em microscopia óptica para identificação microscopia Juliana Quadros 1 & Emygdio L. de A. Monteiro-Filho

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Rua Piraí do Sul 51. Vila São José, Augusta. 81290-170 Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil.
Departamento de Zoologia, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná. Caixa Postal 19020,
81531-980 Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil.

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ABSTRACT. Collecting and preparing mammal hairs for identification with optical microscopy. Hair microprepar eparing hairs identification microscop oscopy structure is a useful tool to identify mammals and is applied in several disciplines such as forensic sciences, ecology, epidemiology, arqueology and paleontology. The methods applied to collect and prepare mammal hairs to identify them under the optical microscopy are many and range from the most cheap and rapid to the most expensive and laborious. The present study aims to test different methods to collect, clean and prepare mammal hairs for cuticular and medullar patterns observation under optical microscopy, to compare these methods to the literature and to describe in detail a new suggested method. To prepare the reference collection, hairs were collected from the back of identified museum specimens with known collecting localities. Cuticular impressions were obtained pressing hairs against a thin nail varnish layer let dry for 15 to 20 minutes on glass slides. In order to observe the medullar pattern, hairs were submitted to diafanization with comercial oxigenated water 30 volumes for 80 minutes. Permanent glass slides were mounted with Entellan and temporary ones with glicerin. The advantages of this method are the easy aquisition and handling of the material and the practical execution, enabling its use in the field.
KEY WORDS. Diet; ecology; mastozoology; taxidermy; tricology.
RESUMO. A microestrutura dos pêlos é uma ferramenta útil na