I found coprolite in the silt of late Miocene (Tortonian 8 million years ago), in the Southern Piedmont (Italy), where two whales have already been found (Balenopteridae). The shape of the section is particular: approximately rhomboid. A marine animal which can be attributed? Thank you for answers and bibliographical suggestions.
Dear Giovanni,
The specimen looks nicely and I would be happy to see it briefly described! It might be a coprolite or a cololite (intestinal cast). However, you could make some additional analyses as e.g. the EDS to rule out the possibility that your specimen is merely a kind of a burrow..., because the morphology is not convincing. Coprolites are often phosphatic in composition.
I'm not familiar to the local geological settings, neither to the paleobiological context to answer your question, but I think you could ask opinion Angela Baldanza (or someone else from her team) who has already described putative whale bromalites from the early Pleistocene of Italy.
Regarding the "particular" cross-section, feces may be quite plastic so that deformations as grooves or flattening are commonly seen on coprolites.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angela_Baldanza
Baldanza, A., Bizzarri, R., Famiani, F., Monaco, P., Pellegrino, R., Sassi, P., 2013. Enigmatic, biogenically induced structures in Pleistocene marine deposits: a first record of fossil ambergris. Geology 41 (10), 1075–1078. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G34731.1
Monaco, P., Baldanza, A., Bizzarri, R., Famiani, F., Lezzerini, M., Sciuto, F., 2014. Ambergris cololites of Pleistocene sperm whales from central Italy and description of the new ichnogenus and ichnospecies Ambergrisichnus alleronae. Palaeontologia Electronica 17(2), 1–20. http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2014/824-ambergrisichnus-alleronae
Best wishes,
Piotr
Dear Piotr,
I thank you for the detailed information you have provided to me and I'll follow.
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