ANATOMORADIOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE AXIAL SKELETON OF THE AGOUTI (Dasyprocta azarae, LICHTENSTEIN, 1823)

Abstract

The axial skeleton is formed by the skull, the spine, the ribs and the sternum, and the anatomoradiographic knowledge of those bones is extremely important clinic and surgically. This researches was developed with the purpose of better know some anatomoradiographic aspects of the axial skeleton of one big wild brazilian rodent, the agouti, since there is not many information about those aspects in scientific literature. They were used six animals, belonging to the Catanduva City Zoo, SP for the radiographic description after anesthesia. As for anatomic notes, bones of three animals were used after radiographs. The agouti presents seven cervical vertebrae, 13 thoracic vertebrae with 13 pairs of ribs, seven lumbar vertebrae, four sacral vertebrae and eight or nine caudal vertebrae. The sternum is composed by a big manubrium, five esternebrae , the xiphisternum to which a xiphoid cartilage is attached. Agoutis are compact animals, presenting a number of vertebrae similar to the paca, the second biggest brazilian rodent, and other non wild rodents. Although they resemble animals of practically nonexistent tail, there is a considerable number of caudal vertebrae.