Morphology, preservation and palaeobiological significance of dinosaur copralites

Abstract

This paper reviews the coprolites (fossil excrements) of terrestrial vertebrates, giving particular attention to examples that may have originated from dinosaurs. Factors affecting the preservation of corprolites and briefly surveyed, and the internal and extent morphology of these fossils is examined in detail. Coprolites furnish small, but sometimes important, pieces of evidence about dinosaur biology: such evidence is rarely conclusive or unbiased, though in favourable circumstances it can be used to ascertain the identity, behaviour, habitats and diets of dinosaurs. Information derived from coprolites is best appraised in the context of broad-based studies which also consider the anatomical adaptations of dinosaurs, their gut contents and their feeding traces, along with any associated fossils that might betray the potential sources of food exploited by dinosaurs.