paleonet Coprolite washing more information

["Xavier Panades I Blas" <cogombra@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Everybody,

Thank you very much for your support and help.


The coprolites come from a unstudied area, and where collected in a cave 
currently about 600m. Hence, we are looking for any kind of fossils that 
could provide us with as much information about the age, climate, etc.

I enclose the palynological results of the coprolites, and I can send you 
the pictures of vegetal rests found in the fossils.

Pollen: It had large quantities of pollen - dominated by
Genista type (70%); Mentha type (11%); Ericaceae (4.9%);
Salix  3.4%; Prunus? Type (6.1%. There are trace amounts of
Pinus;  Mercurialis; Trifolium; Gramineae; Phillyrea; Galium;
Rumex;  Quercus; Artemisia; Potentialla; Plantago; Gernaium;
Ulmus;  Filipendula and Filicales.



Vegetal rests: “Apareixen molts fragments vegetals, bastant degradats 
(potser degut als fongs). Es poden diferenciar bé fragments llenyosos ( 
tiges i nervis), epidermis de briòfits, de graminies i de dicotiledonies 
(algunes són herbàcies i altres llenyoses), tricomes de varis tàxons i 
alguns altres fragments possiblement de fruits i llavors. Lo més abundant 
semblen les dicotiledonies. Tot i això es fa difícil identificar-los a 
nivell de gènere o espècie.”




Respectfully,

Xavier Panades I Blas
55, Marksbury Road
Bedminster
Bristol BS3 5JY
England (EC)

http://www.acs.bolton.ac.uk/~xp1pls/
















From: "Jere H. Lipps" <jlipps@berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
Subject: Re: paleonet Coprolite washing
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2006 00:21:09 +0200

I'd suggest processing different pieces in different ways.  For larger 
microfossils, wash gently over a 64 micron screen (200 mesh) with coarser 
screens stacked above.   You might look for diatoms, charophytes, grass, 
etc.  Save part of it for palynological preparation (this you can't do in 
your kitchen, so find a palynologist to do the job and publish the results).

If they are carnivore poop, you should be on the lookout for little bones, 
teeth, shells, insect carapaces, etc.   If herbivore, bits and pieces of 
plants.  Both could contain pollen and spores.  Of all the things you might 
find, I'd expect the pollen would give you the best dates and 
paleoenvironmental data.  I'd definitely do it, if I was looking at it.

If these are dehydrated dung, then you might hydrate it and examine it under 
a high powered microscope for cysts and bodies of various parasites.  These 
would be of widely differing sizes.  You might need special tools and 
microslides to do this properly.  Like paly, it requires expertise.  Maybe 
some parasitologist would find them interesting, if you have some idea of 
what kind of animal made them.

If you have a lot of them, experiment around a bit with the various 
techniques.

Please send me the pdf--seems like something students would like!

Jere

  At 08:39 PM 4/4/2006, you wrote:
>Hi everybody,
>
>We are trying to extract as many fossil remains from a coprolite by washing 
>with water. Our main aim is to find some remains like nanofossils to date 
>it, as it contains unfortunately litle carbon.
>
>Please,  I would appreciate here some help!
>
>
>
>Respectfully,
>
>Xavier Panades I Blas
>55, Marksbury Road
>Bedminster
>Bristol BS3 5JY
>England (EC)
>
>http://www.acs.bolton.ac.uk/~xp1pls/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>From: Carl Mehling <cosm@amnh.org>
>Reply-To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
>To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk,SKOLITHOS@LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES
>Subject: paleonet Watch Your Step!
>Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:22:42 -0400
>
>It doesn't get any better than this:
>
>M. T. Antunes, A. C. Balbino, and L. Ginsburg, 2006. Miocene Mammalian 
>Footprints in Coprolites from Lisbon, Portugal. Annales de Paleontologie V. 
>92, 13-30.
>
>Enjoy,
>Carl
>
>
>Carl Mehling
>Fossil Amphibian, Reptile, and Bird Collections
>Division of Paleontology
>American Museum of Natural History
>Central Park West @79th Street
>New York, NY  10024
>(212) 769-5849
>Fax: (212) 769-5842
>cosm@amnh.org
>
>