Many coprolites show bony inclusions on the surface, often relatively large in proportion to the coprolite these show little or no evidence for acid damage, suggesting that the predators did not have the physiological adaptations of many modern predatory fishes and reptiles to dissolve bones. Further, we identify five fish coprolite morphotypes that differ in shape (cylindrical, flattened) and in presence or absence of a spiral internal structure.
Here, we report crustacean microcoprolites, including Canalispalliatum and Favreina, the first records from the British Rhaetian, from Hampstead Farm Quarry near Bristol, evidence for diverse lobsters and their relatives not otherwise represented by body fossils. If correctly identified, this coprolite sheds light on predatory habits of Smilodon.Ĭoprolites from the Rhaetian bone beds in southwest England can be assigned to crustaceans and fishes. Based on size, shape, and bone inclusions, the discovered coprolite may be attributed to the Machairodontinae saber-toothed felid Smilodon.
Feces of extant felids are smaller than the coprolite here as they do not exceed 130 mm in length and 30 mm in diameter. Ursid and canid feces contain abundant plant remains, which are absent in the coprolite described here. The coprolite's composition, size, and shape allow us to discard ursids, canids, and small felids. The coprolite contains two bones of the autopodium of an artiodactyl, and numerous dermal ossicles of giant terrestrial sloths. The coprolite was found associated with megafauna bone remains and it shows the typical shape and size of a carnivorous mammal, with a length of 240 mm and a maximum diameter of 39.59 mm. Here we report the first coprolite of a large carnivore from the Late Pleistocene of the Pampean Region, Argentina. Pleistocene large carnivores from the Pampean Region have been studied almost always based on bone remains.
0 kommentar(er)
