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Table 2 Species of animals used for medical purposes in the community Poço Dantas, municipality of Crato, Ceará, Brazil

From: Zootherapeutics utilized by residents of the community Poço Dantas, Crato-CE, Brazil

Insects

    

Family/species/local name

Number of citations

Use-value

Part used

Disease (or illness)

Gryllidae – "Cricket" or "grilo"

2

0.02

Leg (1)

Urinary infections

Apidae

Melipona scutellaris (Latreille, 1811) – "Stingless bee" or "uruçú"

6

0.08

Wax and honey (2)

Healing, sore throat, coughs and asthma

Melipona subnitida (Ducke, 1910) – "Stingless bee" or "jandaíra"

4

0.05

Honey (2)

Asthma, sore throat and coughs

Partamona cupira (Smith, 1863) – "Stingless bee" or "cupira"

23

0.31

Wax (2) and honey (3)

Stomach ache, ear aches, healing, sore throat, coughs, asthma and expectorant

Apis mellifera (Linnaeus, 1758) – "Honey bee" or "abelha italiana"

27

0.37

Honey (3)

Coughs, flu, asthma, sore throat and healing

Trigona spinipes (Fabricius, 1793) – "Stingless bee" or "arapuá"

4

0.05

Honey (3)

Coughs and ear aches

Termitidae

"Termite" or "cupim"

2

0.02

Whole animal (4)

Asthma

Fishes

    

Erythrinidae

    

Hoplias malabaricus (Bloch, 1794) – "Fish" or "traíra"

15

0.2

Fat and secretion epidermal (2)

Ear aches, inflammations, cholesterol, sore throat, healing, inflammations of umbilical cord of newborn baby, bruises and alcoholism

Prochilodontidae

    

Prochilodus nigricans Agassiz, 1929 – "Black prochilodus" or "curimatã"

9

0.12

Fat (2)

Inflammations and cholesterol

Amphibians

    

Bufonidae

    

Rhinella jimi (Stevaux, 2002) – "Cururu toad" or "sapo cururu"

5

0.06

Fat (2)

Bruises, inflammations, arthritis, treatment of injured animals

Leptodactylidae

    

Leptodactylus labyrinthicus (Spix 1824) – "South american pepper frog" or "gia"

2

0.02

Fat (2)

Sore throat

Reptiles

    

Chelidae

    

Phrynops tuberosus (Peters, 1870) – "Side-necked turtle" or "cágado"

31

0.43

Fat (3), shell (4) and blood (2)

Sore throat, rheumatism, inflammations, fissures on feet, back ache, changes of skin, asthma, coughs, (3, 4) varices (2)

Viperidae

    

Crotalus durissus (Linnaeus, 1758) – "Rattle snake" or "cascavel"

4

0.05

Fat (2)

Snake bites, bruises, rheumatism, inflammations, arthritis, alleviate tremor, treatment of injured animals

Iguanidae

    

Iguana iguana (Linnaeus, 1758) – "Common iguana" or "camaleão"

10

0.13

Fat (2)

Ear aches, sore throat and inflammations

Teiidae

    

Tupinambis merianae (Duméril and Bibron, 1839) – "Teju lizard" or "tiú"

66

0.91

Fat (2) and tail (5)

Sore throat, coughs, asthma, headache, bruises, inflammations, rheumatism, flu, bronchitis, arthritis, arthrosis, back ache, toothache, healing, fissures on feet (2) deafness and ear aches (2, 5)

Birds

    

Cathartidae

    

Coragyps atratus (Bechstein, 1793)- "Black vulture" or "urubu"

6

0.08

Meat and whole animal (6)

Asthma, coughs and alcoholism

Phasianidae

    

Gallus domesticus Linnaeus, 1758 -"Chicken" or "galinha"

49

0.68

Fat (3), esophagus and stomach (7)

Sore throat, coughs, inflammations, pneumonia, ear aches, toothache, nasal congestion, stomach ache (3) e diabetes (7)

Pavo cristatus Linnaeus, 1758 – "Pea-cock" or "pavão"

8

0.11

Feather (4)

Asthma

Hirundinidae

    

Progne chalybea (Gmelin, 1789) – "Gray-breasted martin" or "andorinha"

1

0.01

Whole animal (6)

Alcoholism

Cuculidae

    

Crotophaga ani Linnaeus, 1758 – "Smooth-billed ani" or "anu"

2

0.02

Feather (4)

Asthma

Mammals

    

Canidae

    

Cerdocyon thous (Linnaeus, 1766) -"Fox" or "raposa"

3

0.04

Fat (3) and liver (7)

Rheumatism and bronchitis

Felidae

    

Felis silvestris Schereber, 1775 – "Cat" or "gato"

2

0.02

Fur (2)

Healing

Dasyponidae

    

Euphractus sexcinctus (Linnaeus, 1758) – "Armadillo" or "tatu-peba"

6

0.08

Fat (2), meat (6) and tail (5)

Rheumatism, burns, inflammations, pain in bones (2, 6), ear aches and deafness (5)

Dasypus novemcinctus, Linnaeus,1758 – "Nine-banded armadillo" or "tatu-galinha"

2

0.02

Fat (2), meat (6) and tail (5)

Rheumatism, burns, inflammations, pain in bones (2, 6), ear aches and deafness (5)

Bovidae

    

Ovis aries (Linnaeus, 1758)- "Sheep" or "carneiro"

19

0.26

Fat (2)

Fissures on feet, rheumatism, arthritis, back ache, ear aches and inflammations

Bos taurus (Linnaeus, 1758) – "Domestic cattle" or "boi"

5

0.06

Milk (8)

Inflammations, sore throat and arthritis

Capra hircus (Linnaeus, 1758) – "Domestic goat" or "bode"

2

0.02

Milk (8)

Coughs and bronchitis

Suidae

    

Sus scrofa (Linnaeus, 1758) – "Pig" or "porco"

1

0.01

Testicle (4)

Bronchitis

Equidae

    

Equus asinus Linnaeus, 1758 – "Asino" or "jumento"

7

0.09

Milk (8)

Coughs

  1. Legend: (1) Prepare a tea with the animal part utilized and ingest it; (2) Ingest directly or rub on the affected area; (3) Similar to item two, can be administered in combination with medicinal plants; (4) Macerate, prepare a tea and ingest; (5) Rub on the ear; (6) Cook without salt and ingest; (7) To dry under the sun and ingest with tea or with some food; (8) Ingest in combination with medicinal plants or with honey of A. mellifera and P. cupira.