Calcium phosphate preservation of faecal bacterial negative moulds in hyaena coprolites
The vertebrate fossil locality of La Roma 2, Spain (Upper Miocene, Late Vallesian, MN10) is characterised by a high abundance of mammalian coprolites, which provide direct clues to the diets and habitats of the organisms that produced them. X-ray diffraction analysis showed a sample of hyaena (cf. L...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Estado: | Versão publicada |
| Data de publicação: | 2014 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositório: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/113811 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/113811 |
| Access Level: | Acceso aberto |
| Palavra-chave: | Bacteria Hyaena coprolites Structural preservation Taphonomy Miocene Spain |
| Resumo: | The vertebrate fossil locality of La Roma 2, Spain (Upper Miocene, Late Vallesian, MN10) is characterised by a high abundance of mammalian coprolites, which provide direct clues to the diets and habitats of the organisms that produced them. X-ray diffraction analysis showed a sample of hyaena (cf. Lycyaena chaeretis) coprolites to be mostly composed of calcium phosphate. Ultrastructural SEM and TEM studies revealed three successive phases of preservation, including an initial phase of mineralisation that produced microspherulites within a very fine-grained cement. This indicates that most of the calcium phosphate present in the coprolites precipitated rapidly, which in turn facilitated the formation of negative moulds of faecal bacteria within the coprolite matrix. |
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