Regurgitalites (fossilized regurgitates) can provide insight into the behavioral ecology and physiology of extinct species but they are rarely reported because they are difficult to identify and distinguish from coprolites. A compact mass of skeletal material from the Owl Rock Member of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of Arizona reveals features that identify it as a regurgitalite. Characteristics of the teeth and osteoderms in the specimen indicate that these remains belong to the pseudosuchian archosaur Revueltosaurus. Chemical and microstructural analysis revealed a dearth of gastric etching, the preservation of muscle fibers, and the absence of a phosphatic matrix, indicating that this bone mass is a regurgitalite and not a coprolite. It was probably produced by a phytosaur, rauisuchid, or temnospondyl, all of which occur in the Owl Rock Member. We offer an identification key to assist in distinguishing between different types of digestive remains produced by vertebrate carnivores.
Postcranial remains of a small teleosauroid from the Upper Jurassic of north‐eastern Italy are described in detail. The specimen, discovered in 1980 on a slab of Rosso Ammonitico Veronese (RAV Fm.; Bajocian–Tithonian), is represented by partially articulated thoracic, sacral and anterior caudal vertebrae, fractured and displaced osteoderms and pelvic girdle elements. Additional bone elements overlap one another in a densely packed cluster. The peculiar arrangement of this specimen is here interpreted as the result of regurgitation of the animal carcass from a pelagic predator or scavenger. Microstructural and geochemical evidence from bone and surrounding matrix support this hypothesis. A dearth of phosphorus in the matrix near the bone mass corroborates the interpretation of the specimen as a regurgitalite rather than a coprolite. Calcareous nannofossil and stratigraphic data allow us to assign the fossil to the latest Kimmeridgian or earliest Tithonian. The specimen is here tentatively referred to the teleosauroid subfamily Aeolodontinae based on the alternating pattern of the osteoderm ornamentation; this attribution is supported by stratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental evidence. If confirmed, this represents the first occurrence of Aeolodontinae in Italian outcrops of the western Tethys margin and represents the first marine crocodylomorph described as a bromalite.
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