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Comparative actualistic study hints at origins of alleged Miocene coprolites of Poland

Excrement-shaped ferruginous masses have been recovered from the Miocene of Turów mine in south-western Poland. These siderite masses have been the subject of much controversy, having been interpreted either as being coprolites, cololithes or pseudofossils created by mechanical deformation of plasti...

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Autores principales: Brachaniec, Tomasz, Środek, Dorota, Surmik, Dawid, Niedźwiedzki, Robert, Georgalis, Georgios L., Płachno, Bartosz J., Duda, Piotr, Lukeneder, Alexander, Gorzelak, Przemysław, Salamon, Mariusz A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9261929/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35811823
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13652
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author Brachaniec, Tomasz
Środek, Dorota
Surmik, Dawid
Niedźwiedzki, Robert
Georgalis, Georgios L.
Płachno, Bartosz J.
Duda, Piotr
Lukeneder, Alexander
Gorzelak, Przemysław
Salamon, Mariusz A.
author_facet Brachaniec, Tomasz
Środek, Dorota
Surmik, Dawid
Niedźwiedzki, Robert
Georgalis, Georgios L.
Płachno, Bartosz J.
Duda, Piotr
Lukeneder, Alexander
Gorzelak, Przemysław
Salamon, Mariusz A.
author_sort Brachaniec, Tomasz
collection PubMed
description Excrement-shaped ferruginous masses have been recovered from the Miocene of Turów mine in south-western Poland. These siderite masses have been the subject of much controversy, having been interpreted either as being coprolites, cololithes or pseudofossils created by mechanical deformation of plastic sediment. Here we present the results of mineralogical, geochemical, petrographic and microtomographical analyses. Our data indicate that these masses consist of siderite and iron oxide rather than phosphate, and rarely contain recognizable food residues, which may suggest abiotic origins of these structures. On the other hand, evidence in support of a fecal origin include: (i) the presence of two distinct morphotypes differing in size and shape, (ii) the presence of rare hair-like structures or coalified inclusions and (iii) the presence of rare fine striations on the surface. Importantly, comparative actualistic study of recent vertebrate feces shows overall resemblance of the first morphotype (sausage-shaped with rare coalified debris) to excrements of testudinoid turtles (Testudinoidea), whose shell fragment was found in the investigated locality. The second morphotype (rounded to oval-shaped with hair-like structures), in turn, is similar to the feces of some snakes (Serpentes), the remains of which were noted in the Miocene of the neighborhood areas. Other potential producers (such as lizards and crocodiles) and even abiotic origins cannot be fully excluded but are less likely.
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spelling pubmed-92619292022-07-08 Comparative actualistic study hints at origins of alleged Miocene coprolites of Poland Brachaniec, Tomasz Środek, Dorota Surmik, Dawid Niedźwiedzki, Robert Georgalis, Georgios L. Płachno, Bartosz J. Duda, Piotr Lukeneder, Alexander Gorzelak, Przemysław Salamon, Mariusz A. PeerJ Evolutionary Studies Excrement-shaped ferruginous masses have been recovered from the Miocene of Turów mine in south-western Poland. These siderite masses have been the subject of much controversy, having been interpreted either as being coprolites, cololithes or pseudofossils created by mechanical deformation of plastic sediment. Here we present the results of mineralogical, geochemical, petrographic and microtomographical analyses. Our data indicate that these masses consist of siderite and iron oxide rather than phosphate, and rarely contain recognizable food residues, which may suggest abiotic origins of these structures. On the other hand, evidence in support of a fecal origin include: (i) the presence of two distinct morphotypes differing in size and shape, (ii) the presence of rare hair-like structures or coalified inclusions and (iii) the presence of rare fine striations on the surface. Importantly, comparative actualistic study of recent vertebrate feces shows overall resemblance of the first morphotype (sausage-shaped with rare coalified debris) to excrements of testudinoid turtles (Testudinoidea), whose shell fragment was found in the investigated locality. The second morphotype (rounded to oval-shaped with hair-like structures), in turn, is similar to the feces of some snakes (Serpentes), the remains of which were noted in the Miocene of the neighborhood areas. Other potential producers (such as lizards and crocodiles) and even abiotic origins cannot be fully excluded but are less likely. PeerJ Inc. 2022-07-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9261929/ /pubmed/35811823 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13652 Text en © 2022 Brachaniec et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Evolutionary Studies
Brachaniec, Tomasz
Środek, Dorota
Surmik, Dawid
Niedźwiedzki, Robert
Georgalis, Georgios L.
Płachno, Bartosz J.
Duda, Piotr
Lukeneder, Alexander
Gorzelak, Przemysław
Salamon, Mariusz A.
Comparative actualistic study hints at origins of alleged Miocene coprolites of Poland
title Comparative actualistic study hints at origins of alleged Miocene coprolites of Poland
title_full Comparative actualistic study hints at origins of alleged Miocene coprolites of Poland
title_fullStr Comparative actualistic study hints at origins of alleged Miocene coprolites of Poland
title_full_unstemmed Comparative actualistic study hints at origins of alleged Miocene coprolites of Poland
title_short Comparative actualistic study hints at origins of alleged Miocene coprolites of Poland
title_sort comparative actualistic study hints at origins of alleged miocene coprolites of poland
topic Evolutionary Studies
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9261929/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35811823
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13652
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