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The most important results and the most important achievements in the field of science.
Like amber, fossilized droppings, or coprolites, can provide a lot of information about extinct animals. This dinosaur’s dung has been hiding a veritable treasure: an unknown species of beetle for more than 200 million years.
A team of researchers led by Martin Kvarnstrom, of Uppsala University in Sweden, has created a 3D model of a portion of stool that is presumed to belong to Celsaurus opulensis In order to know its diet and dimensions. This dinosaur ancestor inhabited what is now Poland between 237 and 227 million years ago, in the Triassic period.
What caught the attention of paleontologists is Well-preserved fossils of beetles That was inside the coprolite. The insects’ legs and antennae were completely intact.
Upon closer examination with synchrotron microscopy, the study authors concluded that they belong to a Ocean I’ve never seen it beforewhich they baptized Triamexa Coprolithica. Its name refers to the Triassic period and the fact that it belongs to the suborder Mixofaga.
The 1.5-millimeter beetle “likely lived in humid or semi-aquatic environments, just like its modern relatives.” Researchers believe the findings could contribute to Learn more about early development Of these insects, which is that the massive formation of amber began only in the Upper Cretaceous period, or between 100 and 66 million years ago.
It is believed that Celsaurus opulensis He had a kind of beak at the tip of his jaws that he used to pry insects out of the ground. But while this dinosaur sample ate several samples of T. coprolithicaIt can also prey on larger insects. The droppings also contained small pieces of other foods.
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