215-6 SMALL COPROLITES, BIG CONCEPTS: FOSSIL TERMITE AND MITE FECES AS PALEOECOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY INDICATORS

Session: Coprolite Happens: Insights into Geobiology

Presenting Author:

Anthony Martin

Authors:

Martin, Anthony J.¹, Edwards, Jonathan P.², Lowery, Melissa³, Evans, Alistair R.⁴, Rich, Thomas H.⁵, Vickers-Rich, Patricia⁶

(1) Department of Environmental Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA, (2) School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia, (3) School of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia, (4) School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia, (5) Museums Victoria Research Institute, Museums Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, (6) School of Earth & Planetary Science, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia; School of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia,

Abstract:

Although paleontologists have recognized coprolites for their scientific value over the past 200 years, most of their studies have focused on vertebrate coprolites. Considering their abundance, large sizes, and modern analogs for such coprolites, this vertebrate-centered bias is understandable. Yet much smaller coprolites made by invertebrates, and arthropods in particular, also hold important information applicable to paleoecology and evolutionary histories. Among the most noteworthy of invertebrate fossil feces are those of wood-eating arthropods, such as termites (Isoptera) and mites (Acari). Some termite coprolites are morphologically distinctive enough to warrant their own ichnogenus and ichnospecies, such as Microcarpolithes heaxagonalis Vangerow 1954, which is credited to either Kalotermitidae or Mastotermitidae. These coprolites are typically sand-sized particles (0.4-2 mm long, 0.2-1 mm wide), longer than wide, and form hexagonal prisms, the latter a result of termites’ compacting digested materials to conserve water. In contrast, mite coprolites, which are not assigned an ichnotaxon but are attributed to oribatids, are usually much smaller (0.04 to 0.1 wide) and spheroidal. What these coprolites have in common is their connection to xylophagy as an ecological niche in terrestrial ecosystems, thus supporting broad paleoecological and evolutionary trends. For example, Devonian oribatid coprolites demonstrate the role of these arachnids in the decomposition and nutrient cycling of early forest ecosystems. Similarly, termites, which evolved from wood-eating roaches (Liberiblattinidae) during the Jurassic, were among the first eusocial insects, and their coprolites reveal termites’ paleoecological roles in Mesozoic forests. We review a recent case study of an Early Cretaceous termite nest from Victoria, Australia with abundant termite and mite coprolites to illustrate their usefulness. These coprolites—which were studied through a combination of macroscopic descriptions, thin-sections, CT scanning, XRF microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy—demonstrate how xylophagous arthropods consumed wood in a formerly circumpolar environment. In short, although invertebrate coprolites are tiny, they can be scientifically mighty.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-6177

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