Coprolite lovers, Help!

[I_gotta_rock]

Serious, experienced replies, please! This 0.5 cm long object is attached to a broken coprolite from the Eocene/Oligocene of NW Nebraska. Trying hard to figure it out. Wrong twexture for a tooth and it doesn't look like a seed, either. I have a guess, but right now a guess is all I have. Any coprolite specialists out there? I know the pictures could be better, but I don't have a microscope out here in the field.

[Tidgy's Dad]

@GeschWhat 

Lori, oh Duchess of Dookie? 

[Rockwood]

Or @Carl may be around. This does warrant the attention.

[doushantuo]

Not saying that it is,but from a morphological viewpoint alone slighlty reminiscescent of a (POSSIBLY juvenile)plastron spine of a spatangoid echnoid

[Rockwood]

34 minutes ago, doushantuo said:

spatangoid echnoid

Interesting to imagine that one had a piece of, well, you know as a nursery. 

[doushantuo]

eeuh,the poster requested seriousness

[Rockwood]

I have a serious imagination. 

[Plax]

freshwater deposits I think. You reckon it's attached or just stuck on it in burial?

[abyssunder]

Tube worm? 

[I_gotta_rock]

5 hours ago, Plax said:

freshwater deposits I think. You reckon it's attached or just stuck on it in burial?

Pretty sure it was attached at burial. There matrix is terrestrial deposited by flooding. fauna dropping coprolites around there include tortoise, oreodont, deer, horse, rhino, beardog, and sabretooth cats.

Edited October 11, 2021 by I_gotta_rock

[I_gotta_rock]

5 hours ago, Rockwood said:

I have a serious imagination. 

[Carl]

Sorry, I can't make much out here. It has very little distinguishing morphology and I could see virtually anything.

[Rockwood]

It's the curse of having a serious imagination. I can just tell. 

[GeschWhat]

Sorry for the late reply.

 

I'm not saying this is what it is, but my first impression was some kind of worm or parasite. The attached end reminds me of a leech and the other end reminds me of a the head of a fluke worm. Here is my imagination gone wild. Some possibilities include the sudden burial of 1. A soft-bodied animal feeding on the fecal matter ; 2. A parasite frozen while trying exit the fecal matter when deprived of oxygen, or 3. A smaller fecal specimen with a worm-like morphology that was deposited soon after the larger one. The reason I believe it could be a soft-bodied animal is that I have a squid specimen from the Solnhofen Plattenkalk. The soft body of that animal looks just like a carnivore coprolite under magnification. So why couldn't a worm or parasite fossilize just as easily as a carnivore feces? 

 

Interesting specimen. 

[I_gotta_rock]

8 hours ago, GeschWhat said:

Sorry for the late reply.

 

I'm not saying this is what it is, but my first impression was some kind of worm or parasite. The attached end reminds me of a leech and the other end reminds me of a the head of a fluke worm. Here is my imagination gone wild. Some possibilities include the sudden burial of 1. A soft-bodied animal feeding on the fecal matter ; 2. A parasite frozen while trying exit the fecal matter when deprived of oxygen, or 3. A smaller fecal specimen with a worm-like morphology that was deposited soon after the larger one. The reason I believe it could be a soft-bodied animal is that I have a squid specimen from the Solnhofen Plattenkalk. The soft body of that animal looks just like a carnivore coprolite under magnification. So why couldn't a worm or parasite fossilize just as easily as a carnivore feces? 

 

Interesting specimen. 

Thank you. It' s not just your imagination going wild on the same track. That is what I thought when I first saw it. I would absolutely discount anything soft-bodied because they only preserve under absolutely perfect conditions. But, they do preserve under perfect conditions  and an ash layer is just about as close to perfect as one cane get, especially if said soft-bodied life form was sheltered from the heat, like inside a coprolite that broke apart later to expose it???? I think the texture of the surface also looks suspicious. 

 

I've a had a couple others draw the same conclusions independently. Whatever it is, it's not random rock.

 

I went as far as having my Animal Science Major ask her professors if they'd seen anything modern like this. Unfortunately, parasite prevention people don't recognize adults. They look for eggs. No help. A firm "no way" would be something.

 

I am a general naturalist in the modern realm, but a mollusk and brachiopod person in the paleo. I know I've seen something modern like this in a photomicrograph and it bakes my brain trying to remember what it reminds me of.  I'd love to find someone whose expertise is coprolite inclusions to whom I can say, "Okay, I found it. You figure it out and name it after me. We both go down in the books." I'm threatening to contact the Smithsonian, but I don't know if there are any coprolite people there right now.

 

 

 

[GeschWhat]

Can you post a photo of the entire coprolite? 

 

I wouldn't contact the Smithsonian. I would contact Karen Chin. In my opinion, she is the foremost expert on coprolites. She primarily works with dino poop, but she has been a great help to me over the years. She has found intact snail shells in herbivore coprolites. The Brule Formation coprolites preserve inclusions beautifully. Sometimes things aren't revealed unless you have CT imaging performed or he coprolite breaks in just the right way. I soaked a scrap Brule Formation coprolite in vinegar once and a piece came off revealing feathers (or fur). 

 

I know I've seen a modern animal that looks like that too, If a parasite, it could be the larval form. I will send you a PM with Karen's email address.