Coprolites in natural traps : direct evidence of bone-eating carnivorans from the Late Miocene Batallones-3 site, Madrid, Spain
Abella, Juan (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Martín-Perea, David M. (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid, Espanya))
Valenciano Vaquero, Alberto (Universidad de Zaragoza. Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra)
Hontecillas, Daniel (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid, Espanya))
Montoya, Plini (Universitat de València. Departament de Botànica i Geologia)
Jorge Morales, Jorge (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid, Espanya))

Date:	2021
Abstract:	We describe two carnivoran coprolites found in the pseudokarst natural carnivore trap of Batallones-3, from the Late Miocene of Spain. The larger one, comprising multiple indistinguishable fragments of broken and corroded bones, indicates that the producer of the dropping might have been highly capable of crushing the softer parts of large bones. On the other hand, the smaller one shows several relatively larger and more complete bone fragments, thus exhibiting a greater capacity to break and swallow large portions of bone. The external morphology of the large coprolite is similar to that of extant bears, whereas the smaller one more closely resembles that of the living insectivorous hyaenid Proteles in morphology, on the one hand, and that of the viverrid Genetta in size, on the other hand. We hypothesize that the amphicyonid Magerycion anceps was the producer of the large coprolite and the jackal-sized basal hyaenid Protictitherium crassum excreted the smaller one. Thus, we present the first direct evidence of a bone durophagous diet in the carnivorans of Batallones.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2015-68333-P Agencia Estatal de Investigación CGL2016-76431-P Agencia Estatal de Investigación PGC2018-094122-B-I00 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/BP-00223 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación FJC2018-036669-I Agencia Estatal de Investigación BES-2016-079460
Note:	Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya
Rights:	Aquest material està protegit per drets d'autor i/o drets afins. Podeu utilitzar aquest material en funció del que permet la legislació de drets d'autor i drets afins d'aplicació al vostre cas. Per a d'altres usos heu d'obtenir permís del(s) titular(s) de drets.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Iberian Peninsula ; Late Miocene ; Pseudokarst ; Fossil faeces ; Carnivora
Published in:	Lethaia, Vol. 54, Issue 5 (December 2021) , p. 762-774, ISSN 1502-3931

DOI: 10.1111/let.12438

Postprint 44 p, 1.6 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles