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The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores

Defecation in communal latrines is a common behaviour of extant mammals widely distributed among megaherbivores. This behaviour has key social functions with important biological and ecological implications. Herbivore communal latrines are only documented among mammals and their fossil record is exc...

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Autores principales: Fiorelli, Lucas E., Ezcurra, Martín D., Hechenleitner, E. Martín, Argañaraz, Eloisa, Taborda, Jeremías R. A., Trotteyn, M. Jimena, von Baczko, M. Belén, Desojo, Julia B.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3842779/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24287957
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep03348
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author Fiorelli, Lucas E.
Ezcurra, Martín D.
Hechenleitner, E. Martín
Argañaraz, Eloisa
Taborda, Jeremías R. A.
Trotteyn, M. Jimena
von Baczko, M. Belén
Desojo, Julia B.
author_facet Fiorelli, Lucas E.
Ezcurra, Martín D.
Hechenleitner, E. Martín
Argañaraz, Eloisa
Taborda, Jeremías R. A.
Trotteyn, M. Jimena
von Baczko, M. Belén
Desojo, Julia B.
author_sort Fiorelli, Lucas E.
collection PubMed
description Defecation in communal latrines is a common behaviour of extant mammals widely distributed among megaherbivores. This behaviour has key social functions with important biological and ecological implications. Herbivore communal latrines are only documented among mammals and their fossil record is exceptionally restricted to the late Cenozoic. Here we report the discovery of several massive coprolite associations in the Middle-Late Triassic of the Chañares Formation, Argentina, which represent fossil communal latrines based on a high areal density, small areal extension and taphonomic attributes. Several lines of evidence (size, morphology, abundance and coprofabrics) and their association with kannemeyeriiform dicynodonts indicate that these large synapsids produced the communal latrines and had a gregarious behaviour comparable to that of extant megaherbivores. This is the first evidence of megaherbivore communal latrines in non-mammal vertebrates, indicating that this mammal-type behaviour was present in distant relatives of mammals, and predates its previous oldest record by 220 Mya.
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spelling pubmed-38427792013-12-02 The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores Fiorelli, Lucas E. Ezcurra, Martín D. Hechenleitner, E. Martín Argañaraz, Eloisa Taborda, Jeremías R. A. Trotteyn, M. Jimena von Baczko, M. Belén Desojo, Julia B. Sci Rep Article Defecation in communal latrines is a common behaviour of extant mammals widely distributed among megaherbivores. This behaviour has key social functions with important biological and ecological implications. Herbivore communal latrines are only documented among mammals and their fossil record is exceptionally restricted to the late Cenozoic. Here we report the discovery of several massive coprolite associations in the Middle-Late Triassic of the Chañares Formation, Argentina, which represent fossil communal latrines based on a high areal density, small areal extension and taphonomic attributes. Several lines of evidence (size, morphology, abundance and coprofabrics) and their association with kannemeyeriiform dicynodonts indicate that these large synapsids produced the communal latrines and had a gregarious behaviour comparable to that of extant megaherbivores. This is the first evidence of megaherbivore communal latrines in non-mammal vertebrates, indicating that this mammal-type behaviour was present in distant relatives of mammals, and predates its previous oldest record by 220 Mya. Nature Publishing Group 2013-11-28 /pmc/articles/PMC3842779/ /pubmed/24287957 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep03348 Text en Copyright © 2013, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareALike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
spellingShingle Article
Fiorelli, Lucas E.
Ezcurra, Martín D.
Hechenleitner, E. Martín
Argañaraz, Eloisa
Taborda, Jeremías R. A.
Trotteyn, M. Jimena
von Baczko, M. Belén
Desojo, Julia B.
The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores
title The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores
title_full The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores
title_fullStr The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores
title_full_unstemmed The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores
title_short The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores
title_sort oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in triassic megaherbivores
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3842779/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24287957
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep03348
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