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Croc Coprolites with furrows


MarcoSr

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15 hours ago, Dewbunny said:

Ok, I am not a professional in any way but I do live on the central West Coast of FL and I see live gators galore. And I have seen their poop,I've even stepped in it. Just before winter they gorge themselves and the poo has ridges,I'm guessing due to a full digestive tract/colon plus the fuller the gator the slower it poops,like pushes a little then takes a break/rest then pushes a little more. Poop just kinda hanging out back there like a dingle berry. If you startle the gator sometimes it will drop it's 'package' but half the time it swims off with its waste intact and still attached per say.

Just my 1 cent

Below is photo of fresh dropping

Screenshot_2017-11-14-17-17-43-1.png

 

Thank you for posting.  It really does help to see modern examples to help understand the fossil coprolites that I collect.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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2 hours ago, Brittle Star said:

Hi, what an interesting topic, I cannot believe all of the suggestions as to why coprolites have this shape, maybe I am missing some scientific or non scientific explanation but to me a lot of poop has this pattern due to the muscles and interior surface of the extreme lower digestive tract (trying to be ladylike) of what ever is doing what they are doing. I suppose the unique shapes determine the organism that has deposited the deposit. I thought this was common knowledge. However I still have no idea why termite poo is hexagonal, this has not changed in over 75 million years. 

 

Some patterns in coprolites are very common and have been discussed in a number of papers.  Some are very uncommon.  I've collected over 40,000 marine coprolites to date and have never seen a pattern with longitudinal striations like those on Lori's specimens above.  Also I only have a few examples, those in this post, of the deep furrowing pattern.  I have thousands with a light spiraling pattern which were made by sharks and some species of bony fish.  So we are discussing patterns that are very unusual trying to fully understand how they we made and by what.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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@GeschWhat

Ok,again I'm no expert...

But the ones with the longitudinal striations really look like some of the larger palmetto bug dropping I've seen. Never took I pic of it,but I will try to get one next time I happen acrossed it. They (the poo) looks like little lines leading to a pinched edge. I'm guessing it's because of the insects exoskeleton + the pinch off process. 

If possible I'll include a picture of the culprit.

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12 minutes ago, Dewbunny said:

@GeschWhat

Ok,again I'm no expert...

But the ones with the longitudinal striations really look like some of the larger palmetto bug dropping I've seen. Never took I pic of it,but I will try to get one next time I happen acrossed it. They (the poo) looks like little lines leading to a pinched edge. I'm guessing it's because of the insects exoskeleton + the pinch off process. 

If possible I'll include a picture of the culprit.

 

Wow, this is really interesting.  I wonder if there were insects in the Triassic that were large enough to produce Lori's specimens?  I also wonder if they had insects like dung beetles that might have put the lines in the coprolites?  I hadn't thought about these possibilities at all before your post.  Lori @GeschWhat  have you?

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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2 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

I really haven't seen this pattern of longitudinal striations in any of the thousands of marine coprolites that I've collected.

I'm not sure about the Permian, but the Triassic are from a freshwater floodplain area.

 

2 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

These do look more like the Eocene coprolites that I posted.

There were a lot of freshwater crocodylian and champsosaur remains found in the same area. Do you happen to know if champsosaurs or related species existed in the formation where yours were found?

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1 hour ago, MarcoSr said:

Wow, this is really interesting.  I wonder if there were insects in the Triassic that were large enough to produce Lori's specimens?  I also wonder if they had insects like dung beetles that might have put the lines in the coprolites?  I hadn't thought about these possibilities at all before your post.  Lori @GeschWhat  have you?

 

Marco Sr.

No I haven't. I just spent the last 15 minutes trying to find images of cockroach fecal pellets. So many possibilities!

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2 hours ago, Dewbunny said:

 

I'm glad we don't have those very large roaches today in the US.

 

Marco Sr,

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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1 hour ago, GeschWhat said:

There were a lot of freshwater crocodylian and champsosaur remains found in the same area. Do you happen to know if champsosaurs or related species existed in the formation where yours were found?

 

Lori

 

Champsosaurus was around from the upper Cretaceous to the mid Eocene.  My Virginia marine site is very early Eocene, close to the Paleocene boundary, so the time frame would fit. However, Champsosaurus’ habitat was rivers and streams not marine.  There haven’t been any reports from the Eocene of MD/VA of Champsosaurus that I’m aware of.   However, specimens from a species of the Family Alligatoridae ( genus Diplocynodon) and two species of the Family Gavialidae (genus Eosuchus and genus Thoracosaurus) have been found at the Virginia site.  They are all from the Order Crocodilia, a different Order from Choristodera, the Order of Champsosaurus, so I really don’t know how closely related they are.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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7 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

 

That area is the area of real interest to me.  It seems to match the area circled in red in my second picture in this post.  If you can post additional pictures it would be appreciated.

 

Marco Sr.

PM me your address and I’ll donate it to your collection,  I don’t collect croc stuff. :)

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16 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

PM me your address and I’ll donate it to your collection,  I don’t collect croc stuff. :)

 

John

 

Thank you.  PM sent.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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