The late Barremian ecosystem of Las Hoyas sustained by fishes and shrimps as inferred from coprofabrics
Entity
UAM. Departamento de BiologíaPublisher
ElsevierDate
2020-01-31Citation
10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104409
Cretaceous Research 110 (2020): 104409
ISSN
0195-6671 (print)DOI
10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104409Funded by
Funding for the analyses was provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) through the project CGL2013-42643-P. The fellowship reference BES-2014-070985 of the Program for the Training of Researchers of the MINECO helped fund this project, and the PhD travel grant reference EEBB-I-2018-12926 “Ayudas a la movilidad predoctoral para la realizacion de estancias breves en centros de I þ D00 of the MINECO made it possible to carry out this work at the University of Colorado BoulderProject
Gobierno de España. CGL2013-42643-P; Gobierno de España. BES-2014-070985; Gobierno de España. EEBB-I-2018-12926Editor's Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104409Subjects
Coprolites; Decapod cuticle; Exceptional preservation; Ganoid scales; Trophic interactions; Biología y Biomedicina / BiologíaRights
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd.Esta obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 4.0 Internacional.
Abstract
Las Hoyas, a locality of the La Huérguina Formation in the southwestern Iberia Basin (Cuenca province, Spain), is a well-known late Barremian Konservat-Lagerstätte highly rich in coprolites that have a wide variety of morphologies. Thin sections of twenty specimens were prepared from seven coprolite morphotypes. All of the examined coprolites exhibit a microcrystalline calcium phosphate groundmass lacking recrystallization and containing fine inclusions. Three different coprofabrics have been characterized and reflect the diet and digestive processes of the animal producers. The fish scale coprofabric is formed by ganoine scales likely attributed to Semionotiformes; the decapod cuticle coprofabric includes exoskeletal fragments which might be assigned to Atydae shrimps and Astacidae crayfish prey. A combination of decapod cuticles and fish scales can occasionally occur in the same coprolite. The third coprofabric contains few or no inclusions, and likely denotes the presence of coprolite producers with very efficient digestive systems. The exceptional preservation of the Las Hoyas coprolites reveals the trophic importance of small crustaceans with thin and delicate exoskeletons, a food resource that is not usually evident in coprolites. The number of coprofabrics relative to the number of possible fecal producers is low, and may reflect taphonomic biases. Nevertheless, the coprofabric contents demonstrate that decapods and fishes were important food resources in this Barremian ecosystem
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Google Scholar:Barrios-de Pedro, Sandra
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Chin, Karen
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Delgado Buscalioni, Ángela
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