Hyena hegemony: biogeography and taphonomy of Pleistocene vertebrate coprolites with description of a new mammoth coprolite ichnotaxon

Abstract

In 1822, William Buckland first recognized Pleistocene vertebrate coprolites, and they are now known from more multiple localities with a global distribution. Carnivore coprolites dominate, and there are two distinct biogeographic and taphonomic provinces for vertebrate coprolites in the Pleistocene. The Castrocopros province of North and South America is characterized by a dominance of herbivore coprolites, which are preserved almost exclusively in caves. The Hyaenacoprus province in Africa, Europe and Asia is dominated by hyena coprolites that occur mainly in caves, but also in other depositional environments. Pacific Islands may represent a third province characterized by dominant bird coprolites from caves, but the known localities are all Holocene. Mammuthocopros allenorum ichnogen. and ichnosp. nov. is a coprolite of Mammuthus columbi from Utah, USA.

Keywords:

• Vertebrate coprolites
• Pleistocene
• ground sloth
• hyena
• province

Acknowledgements

We dedicate this article to the late S. George Pemberton, to honor his numerous contributions to ichnology, including several papers on William Buckland and coprolites. We thank many colleagues for access to collections, particularly David and Janet Gillette (Museum of Northern Arizona), Michael Brett-Surman (National Museum of Natural History) and Paul Jeffery (Oxford University Museum of Natural History). We are grateful for the careful and insightful reviews of the manuscript by Karen Chin and Gloria Cuenca-Bescos, and the useful comments of editor James MacEachern.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Table 1. Principal Pleistocene localities of sloth and hyena coprolites. References for localities are in the Supplemental Data file.

Correction Statement

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