Beetle-bearing coprolites possibly reveal the diet of a Late Triassic dinosauriform

Abstract

Diets of extinct animals can be difficult to analyse if no direct evidence, such as gut contents, is preserved in association with body fossils. Inclusions from coprolites (fossil faeces), however, may also reflect the diet of the host animal and become especially informative if the coprolite producer link can be established. Here we describe, based on propagation phase-contrast synchrotron microtomography (PPC-SRμCT), the contents of five morphologically similar coprolites collected from two fossil-bearing intervals from the highly fossiliferous Upper Triassic locality at Krasiejów in Silesia, Poland. Beetle remains, mostly elytra, and unidentified exoskeleton fragments of arthropods are the most conspicuous inclusions found in the coprolites. The abundance of these inclusions suggests that the coprolite producer deliberately targeted beetles and similar small terrestrial invertebrates as prey, but the relatively large size of the coprolites shows that it was not itself a small animal. The best candidate from the body fossil record of the locality is the dinosauriform Silesaurus opolensis Dzik, 2003, which had an anatomy in several ways similar to those of bird-like neotheropod dinosaurs and modern birds. We hypothesize that the beak-like jaws of S. opolensis were used to efficiently peck small insects off the ground, a feeding behaviour analogous to some extant birds.

New Specimen Sheds Light on the Anatomy and Taxonomy of the Early Late Triassic Dinosauriforms from the Chañares Formation, NW Argentina

“…Beyond this floristic association, the dicynodont coprolites also preserve diverse arthropod and fungal remains (Perez Loinaze et al ., ) that occur in the aftermath of a major evolutionary radiation that resulted in the establishment of modern insect groups during the Middle Triassic (Misof et al ., ; Van Eldijk et al ., ). It has been recently suggested that insects would have represented the main food item of some early dinosauriforms (Qvarnström et al ., ). The exploitation of this important food resource would have required skeletal adaptations as those observed in Lewisuchus admixtus and that may suggest that this animal had an active predatory behavior, as indicated by a proportionally large head with numerous recurved and serrated teeth, possible good locomotion agility (indicated by a large floccular fossa), and gracile, elongated hindlimbs.…”

Reconstructing the archosaur radiation using a Middle Triassic archosauriform tooth assemblage from Tanzania

“…Following this criterion Asilisaurus would be categorized as a potential piscivore. However, dietary reconstructions of Silesaurus opolensis , another silesaurid possessing similar dentition to Asilisaurus , have been herbivorous or omnivorous based upon dental microwear (Kubo & Kubo, 2014) or insectivorous based upon coprolites (Qvarnström et al, 2019). Thus, in the Manda Beds tooth assemblage, there are two large-bodied carnivores ( Nundasuchus and “ Pallisteria ”), two small-bodied carnivores ( Parringtonia and an undescribed pseudosuchian), and one small-bodied, non-carnivore ( Asilisaurus ).…”

Filter feeding in Late Jurassic pterosaurs supported by coprolite contents

“…1) in a marginal marine setting, in order to identify the tracemaker and infer its diet. The specimens were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and propagation phase contrast synchrotron microtomography (PPC-SRµCT), a method which has been recently shown to be capable of non-destructively imaging entire coprolite contents of various sorts in three dimensions (Zatoń et al, 2017; Qvarnström et al, 2017; Qvarnström, Ahlberg & Niedźwiedzki, 2019a; Qvarnström et al, 2019b).…”