Coprolite specimens from Pietraroja (lower Cretaceous, Southern Italy): morphological analysis by scanning electron microscopy

G. Russo; P. Raia; M. Lauteri

doi:10.4081/microscopie.2015.5165

Authors

G. Russo
giuseppe.russo@ibaf.cnr.it
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Biologia Agroambientale e Forestale (IBAF), Porano (TR), Italy.
P. Raia Università degli Studi Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse, Naples, Italy.
M. Lauteri Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Biologia Agroambientale e Forestale (IBAF), Porano (TR), Italy.

The excavation in the palaeontological site of Pietraroja (Benevento, Italy) allowed to discover a large number of coprolites, though a precise stratigraphy would be only conceivable. The microscopic analysis of the samples provided valid elements to identify the producer and the palaoenvironment of the icno-fossilization, through the identifications of the inclusions and the possible causes of preservation. The final part of this study presents elements to identify the producer comparing the microscopical evidences of the coprolites with rests of associated fauna, in particular the plausible dental apparatus of a Notagogus pentlandi.

Russo, G., Raia, P., & Lauteri, M. (2015). Coprolite specimens from Pietraroja (lower Cretaceous, Southern Italy): morphological analysis by scanning electron microscopy. Microscopie, 23(1), 53–59. https://doi.org/10.4081/microscopie.2015.5165

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