Late Cretaceous coprolites from the Kristianstad Basin, southern Sweden

Abstract: Vertebrate coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) of the Åsen locality, Kristianstad Basin, southern Sweden, are described and illustrated. Their fecal origin was supported through chemical analyses revealing a calcium phosphate composition. Five specimens were chosen for detailed description and analyses and these were sub-divided into three different groups of ichnotaxa. Because of their heteropolar mode of spiralling, coprolites of one group are interpreted as being produced by macrophagous lamniform sharks. Two groups, each containing un-spiralled coprolites, are harder to attribute to a certain producer. One coprolite, containing invertebrate fossils of possible molluscan affinity, may have been produced by a bottom-feeding, durophagous shark or a pycnodont fish, both of which were common components of the Åsen fauna. Possible producers of the larger, un-spiralled coprolites include mosasaurs and plesiosaurs.