Overlooked or Unimportant? An Overview of the Coprolite Collections at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Fossilized feces, termed coprolites, provide unique information on digestive systems, diets, and ecosystems of extinct animals, and are potentially useful for palynology, biostratigraphy and preservation of animal and plant remains. Despite this broad utility, scientific enquiry into coprolites has been relatively sparse. We carried out a systematic investigation into 23 significant South African fossil collections of the Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in search of coprolites. This study spanned a temporal range from the Permian to the recent Cenozoic returning approximately 790 known coprolites in the collections. Of these, only four assemblages have appeared in six coprolite-specific publications. Others have been mentioned to some extent in publications focused on fauna, palynology or simply mentioned that coprolites were present. Clearly, the coprolite collections at the ESI are understudied and require attention with the intention of stimulating a greater interest in this field.