INVESTIGADORES
FIORELLI Lucas Ernesto
artículos
Título:
The oldest known communal latrines provide evidence of gregarism in Triassic megaherbivores
Autor/es:
LUCAS E. FIORELLI; MARTÍN EZCURRA; MARTÍN HECHENLEITNER; ELOISA ARGAÑARAZ; JEREMÍAS TABORDA; JIMENA TROTTEYN; BELÉN VON BACZKO; JULIA DESOJO
Revista:
Scientific Reports
Editorial:
Nature Publishing Group
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2013 vol. 3 p. 1 - 7
ISSN:
2045-2322
Resumen:
Defecation in communal latrines is a common behaviour of extant mammals
widely distributed among megaherbivores. This behaviour has key social
functions with important biological and ecological implications.
Herbivore communal latrines are only documented among mammals and their
fossil record is exceptionally restricted to the late Cenozoic. Here we
report the discovery of several massive coprolite associations in the
Middle-Late Triassic of the Chañares Formation, Argentina, which
represent fossil communal latrines based on a high areal density, small
areal extension and taphonomic attributes. Several lines of evidence
(size, morphology, abundance and coprofabrics) and their association
with kannemeyeriiform dicynodonts indicate that these large synapsids
produced the communal latrines and had a gregarious behaviour comparable
to that of extant megaherbivores. This is the first evidence of
megaherbivore communal latrines in non-mammal vertebrates, indicating
that this mammal-type behaviour was present in distant relatives of
mammals, and predates its previous oldest record by 220 Mya.