London Clay Eocene Entree - Coprolite or Regurgitite

[GeschWhat]

Hi all,

I recently received this coprolite from the Isle of Sheppey (London Clay), England. From what I have read, the fossils found in the area generally consist of fish, birds and other marine fossils. This coprolite has some strange textures that lead me to think it could possibly be a regurgitite rather than a coprolite. The bones don't look fishy to me, There is one vertebra visible and some other bones that may be recognizable to some of you out there. I'm also interested to see if any of you think it could be regurgitite. When I first looked at it under the microscope the texture of portions of it reminded me of impressions that might be left by regurgitated feathers. Your thoughts on that and inclusion ids would be greatly appreciated.

Vertebra

[GeschWhat]

Inclusion 2

[Auspex]

How 'bout an unexcreted bolus? The bones do not look to be heavily digested.

[GeschWhat]

Inclusion 2

[GeschWhat]

Inclusion 3

[GeschWhat]

Inclusion 4

[GeschWhat]

Inclusion 5

[GeschWhat]

Inclusion 6

[GeschWhat]

Weird Texture

[Auspex]

Yeah, it has too much form for a regurgitite, IMO.

[GeschWhat]

The coprolite or regurgitite

[GeschWhat]

One more view of the coprolite/regurgitite

[GeschWhat]

How 'bout an unexcreted bolus? The bones do not look to be heavily digested.

Yeah, it really doesn't look like it has been digested much at all. I never thought of an unexcreted bolus. That makes more sense. You are an avian guy, right? Any thoughts on the bones? Could they be avian?

[Auspex]

...Any thoughts on the bones? Could they be avian?

Can't tell...

It would be great to see more of this one exposed:

...but it is not strongly suggestive, so don't tear up a nice poo for nothing.

[GeschWhat]

Auspex, what do you think of the vertebra (at least I think it is part of a vertebra)? I was looking at the unusual shape of what looks to be the spinous process, and it looked vaguely similar to the photo on this site, but they really didn't describe the vertebra on that page further.

[Auspex]

No can say.