Dinosaur Coprolites and the Early Evolution of Grasses and Grazers

2005/11/18 by Vandana Prasad, Caroline A. E. Strömberg, Habib Alimohammadian +1 · 15 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Biology #Botany #Cretaceous #Ecology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Evolutionary biology #Extant taxon #Gondwana #Indian subcontinent #Paleontology #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Phytolith #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Poaceae #Range (aeronautics) #Taxon #Theropoda #Zoology

paper · doi:10.1126/science.1118806

openalex publication_date 2005/11/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Silicified plant tissues (phytoliths) preserved in Late Cretaceous coprolites from India show that at least five taxa from extant grass (Poaceae) subclades were present on the Indian subcontinent during the latest Cretaceous. This taxonomic diversity suggests that crown-group Poaceae had diversified and spread in Gondwana before India became geographically isolated. Other phytoliths extracted from the coprolites (from dicotyledons, conifers, and palms) suggest that the suspected dung producers (titanosaur sauropods) fed indiscriminately on a wide range of plants. These data also make plausible the hypothesis that gondwanatherian mammals with hypsodont cheek teeth were grazers.

Citations

• Dinosaurs, dung beetles, and conifers; participants in a Cretaceous food web
• The age of major monocot groups inferred from 800+rbcL sequences
• GONDWANAN EVOLUTION OF THE GRASS ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES (POALES)
• The breakup history of Gondwana and its impact on pre-Cenozoic floristic provincialism
• GONDWANAN EVOLUTION OF THE GRASS ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES (POALES)

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• Vertebrate coprolites from Middle Triassic Chang 7 Member in Ordos Basin, China: Palaeobiological and palaeoecological implications
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• ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS OF SUDAMERICID (GONDWANATHERIA) MAMMALS FROM THE EARLY PALEOCENE OF ARGENTINA
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• Grass pollen surface ornamentation is diverse across the phylogeny: Evidence from northern South America and the global literature
• First complete sauropod dinosaur skull from the Cretaceous of the Americas and the evolution of sauropod dentition
• Dinosaur [wikipedia]