Permian Western Gondwana food chain elucidated by coprolites from the Corumbatai Formation (Paran & PRIME;a Basin, Brazil)

Autor(es)

Jurigan, Isabela ; Ricardi-Branco, Fresia ; Dentzien-Dias, Paula

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Journal of South American Earth Sciences; v. 127, p. 18-pg., 2023-05-29.

Resumo

Fossilized feces (coprolites) are remarkable tools for paleobiology and paleoecology assessment. Here they are used to reconstruct the Permian interactions between organisms that once composed a large interior sea at Western Gondwana. Coprolites from the Corumbatai Formation were retrieved from a distal tempestite layer and investigated about their morphology, texture, and food inclusions, applying hand sample description, petro-graphic analysis, EDS/SEM, and confocal microscopy. Seven morphotypes were recognized, which were probably derived from fishes, like xenacanthid sharks, basal Actinopterygii (Palaeonisciformes), petalodontids/dipnoan, and possible tetrapods, such as temnospondyls and diapsids. Four coprofabrics were also recognized and allowed the establishment of four different feeding/digestive strategies and, consequently, the definition of carnivorous-piscivorous predators as top predators, but also as occupants of intermediate trophic niches. Durophagic/deposit feeders were occupants of inferior trophic niches. This food web developed under stressful conditions, during a moment of aridization of the Paran & PRIME;a Basin, in association with ostracods and sponges' proliferation, and during this moment palaeoniscoid fishes seem to have been the main exploited resource in the environment. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 14/50938-8 - INCT 2014: em Fotônica Aplicada à Biologia Celular INFABiC
• Beneficiário: Hernandes Faustino de Carvalho
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático
• Processo FAPESP: 19/16727-3 - Paisagens tafonômicas
• Beneficiário: Fresia Soledad Ricardi Torres Branco
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular