Pesq. Vet. Bras. 32(7):667-671, julho 2012 667 RESUMO.-[Aspectos morfológicos dos ovários da tartaruga Kinosternon scorpioides criada em cativeiro.]O jurará (Kinosternon scorpioides) é um cágado da Região Amazônica que sofre com as capturas desordenadas nos interiores maranhenses e que apesar da sua popularidade nessas áreas, os dados relacionados à morfologia reprodutiva ainda são poucos esclarecedores, o que diϐiculta a adoção de medidas para preservação da espécie. Desta forma, caracterizou-se morfologicamente os ovários de fêmeas adultas de jurara oriundas de cativeiro através da análise morfológica e morfométrica em dois períodos do ano, seco e o chuvoso. Os resultados comprovaram que todas as fê-meas eram maduras sexualmente e se encontravam em período vitelogênico. Os ovários são duas estruturas irregulares constituídas por diversos folículos em desenvolvimento (primários, secundários e terciários) sobre um estroma de tecido conjuntivo frouxo ricamente vascularizado, com The swear turtle "jurará" (Kinosternon scorpioides) is a mud turtle of the Amazon region exposed to disordering capture in the rural areas of Maranhão, Brazil. Despite its popularity in these areas, little meaningful information regarding the reproductive morphology is currently available, fact that impedes the adoption of policies for preservation of the species. To obtain more information, we studied the ovarian morphology adult jurará females kept in captivity by morphological and morphometric analysis in the dry and rainy season. The results revealed that all females were sexually mature and were in a vitellogenic period. The ovaries are two irregular structures composed by follicles in different stages of development (primary, secondary and tertiary) scattered in a stroma of loose connective highly vascularized tissue. The ovary weight was 6.25±4.23g and 2.27±1.42g, for the right and left one respectively. The gonadosomatic indexes were 2.06% for the dry season and 1.79% for the rainy season. The average of the follicles was 29.83 units per ovary. Microscopically, the mature ovaries revealed a basal layer composed by four cellular layers: the inner and outer theca, stratum granulosum with perivitelline membrane and zona radiata with vitelline membrane. No signiϐicant differences were observed in the ovaries either in the dry or wet period.

The objective of this work was to identify the phthirapteran species, to determine the prevalence according to the anatomical region of the body and to know the dynamics and composition of the population of these ectoparasites in free-range chicken in São Luis Island, state of Maranhão. Inspection was performed in 40 chickens and feathers were collected from the head, neck, wing, thigh, dorsal and ventral regions and cloacae. The phthirapteran species identified were: Menopon gallinae L., Menacanthus stramineus Nitzsch, Menacanthus pallidulus Neumann, Menacanthus cornutus Schommer (Menoponidae), and Lipeurus caponis L., Goniodes dissimilis Denny and Goniocotes gallinae De Geer (Philopteridae). L. caponis was collected from all regions sampled, including the head, which was the least infested region. The dorsum was the most infested, especially in the dry period of the year and where the greater parasitic diversity was observed, the wing and the head were the least infested regions. Considering the dynamics and the composition of the population the phthirapteran presented a prevalence of 85% of the sampled chickens, the mean intensity of infestation was 45.3 varying from <1 to 453. The egg stage was superior to the others life stages followed by nymphs and female adults, independent of the phthirapteran species.

Kinosternon scorpioides , popularly known as scorpion mud turtle (jurará in Brazil), is a fresh water species. There is little information about its reproduction and the present study aims to morphologically characterize the reproductive organs of male K.scorpioides bred in captivity in two seasons of the year. The reproductive tracts of adult animals under went macroscopic ultrastructural analysis of the lumen, as well as scanning electron and transmission microscopy. Macroscopically, the male genital organs consist of a pair of testicles, epididymis, the vas deferens and a penis. Testicles, epididymis and deferents ducts were characterized by reproductive activity during the rainy season and reproductive inactivity in the dry period. The morphometry regarding the tubular and luminal diameter and epithelial height of the testicles, epididymis and deferents ducts showed changes along the studied periods. The rainy season presented higher averages than the dry period. The penis did not show any changes during both periods. It was concluded that K. scorpioides exhibits reproductive seasonality.

The use of turtles for food or breeding is a traditional practice in the Baixada Maranhense Environmental Protection Area (EPA), which is composed of wetlands of high conservation value. However, species such as Kinosternon scorpioides, a semi-aquatic Amazon turtle , are threatened by direct harvesting and habitat loss. Local knowledge of biodiversity has been used to understand these practices and to control these problems as a theoretical basis in research on the use and management of natural resources and conservation. This work aimed to analyze the traditional knowledge of riverside communities on the biology, habitat, capture methods, forms of use, and conservation of turtles in the Baixada Maranhense. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with inhabitants of riverside communities. Based on our results, turtle species are commonly caught in fishing activities (54.71 percent of the interviewees) or by burning (32.35 percent), a practice with great environmental impacts. 41.77 percent of respondents capture these animals for consumption and prefer the K scorpioides, which also has cultural and medicinal importance for the riverside communities. 89 percent of the interviewees report no knowledge of either the structure and function of an EPA or how resource management works, compromising the sustainability principles and operation of this Conservation Unit (C.U.). It is concluded that capture of turtles is one of the reasons for the decrease in natural stocks of K scorpioides. Strategies for management and conservation of the Baixada Maranhense EPA resources are proposed.

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Data on births are important, both for demographic and health aspects since they allow the construction of several indicators, such as birth and fecundity rates, and the analysis of the health situation (IBGE, 2009). This way aimed to characterize the live birth numbers in the 217 municipalities in the state of Maranhão through search of secondary data in the public domain, available in Live Births Information System - SINASC, the Ministry of Health for the number of live births in the 217 municipalities of Maranhão state, in the years 2000, 2010 and 2014. From the analysis of the data can be observed that a number of live births in Maranhão is more pronounced in the central Maranhão mesoregion and in some points of the western, eastern and northern mesoregions of the State of Maranhão, with a mean between 101 and 600 births per year. There was a significant variation between the years 2010 and 2000 when comparing births by a period. The data on live births are needed for directing public health policies that come to contribute to social improvement.Key words: birth, Maranhense, population.

The sexual dimorphism of the Kinosternon scorpioides was evaluated using two different techniques (linear and geometric morphometry) from images and linear measurements of the carapace and plastron of adults (male and female). Linear morphometry indicated that the height and width of carapace and plastron are statistically different between sexes, with females being wider and taller. In the evaluation of geometric morphometry, ANOVA demonstrated variation in the size of the plastron and the shape of the carapace and plastron, expressing a tendency in shape for each sex. Sexual dimorphism, therefore, is verified for this species, notably by the plastron. This study indicates an additional tool for the phenotypic knowledge of animals, contributing to the study of threatened populations.

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