RE: Dinosaur urine?

["Jerry D. Harris" <jharris@dixie.edu>]

Ken Carpenter said:

> That, regrettably, was not the best SVP poster and should be taken with
> a grain of salt. I know the depression in question.

   That isn't the only such report, however:

Fernandes, M.A., dos Reis Fernandes, L.B., and de Figueiredo Souto, P.R. 
2004. Occurrence of urolites related to dinosaurs in the Lower Cretaceous of 
the Botucatu Formation, Paraná Basin, São Paulo, Brazil. Revista Brasileira 
de Paleontologia 7(2):263-268.

ABSTRACT: The geological units that correspond to the Mesozoic in the Paraná 
basin, São Paulo State, are included in São Bento Group, by correlation with 
the Pirambóia, Botucatu and Serra Geral formations. The Botucatu Formation's 
age is bracketed between the Upper Jurassic and the Lower Cretaceous 
(Neocomian). The Botucatu Formation is composed of aeolian sandstones 
showing cross-stratification from medium to large scale, a typical trait of 
migrating dunes. Ichnofossils were collected in the São Bento Quarry, 
located in the city of Araraquara, São Paulo State. Samples MPA-002 e 
MPA-003, respectively, are the negative epirelief and positive hyporelief of 
the same trace fossil. MPA-001 is a negative epirelief. These features show 
a removal of sedimentary material, in contrast to the morphology of 
ornithopod and theropod dinosaur tracks, where compression and deformation 
of unconsolidated sedimentary layers occurs. These trace fossils show a 
pattern corresponding to erosion caused by evacuation of liquid wastes and 
are classificated as urolites, because this term has already been applied to 
the occurrence of ichnofossils of this type in France and Germany. The 
morphostructure of these urolites is very similar to the erosional geometry 
produced in the substrate by expelled liquid waste of modern ratite birds, 
such as Struthio camelus (ostrich). These urolites are the first records in 
Brazil of this type of ichnofossil, and is also one of the first examples of 
trace fossils attributed to liquid waste expulsion by dinosaurs.

The paper even has a nice sequence of photos of a zoo ostrich excreting a 
rather large-ish stream of very liquid waste they call urine. (They don't 
address its possible implications for the evolution of theropod or 
ornithuran physiology.)  I don't know what the French specimens referred to 
are (the paper cited is a very old one [1844]; this apparently is the paper 
that erects the term "urolite"), and some of the German specimens were 
attributed to, of all things, ichthyosaurs (don't know how that's supposed 
to work); the others just to "reptiles" (I don't have the papers to which 
they refer, not that I can read much German, anyway).  They are:

Duvernoy, G. 1844. Sur l'existence des urolithes fossiles, et sur l'utilite 
que la science des fossiles organiques pourra tirer de luer distinction 
d'aves les coprolithes, pour la determination de restes fossiles de Sauriens 
et d'Ophidiens. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances de l'Academie des 
Sciences 19: 255-260.

Leydig, F. 1896a. Koprolithen und Urolithen. Neues Jahrbuch fuer Geologie 
und Palaeontologie, Monatshefte 2: 139-140.

Leydig, F. 1896b. Koprolithen und Urolithen. Biologisches Centralblatt 16: 
101-103.

Voigt, E. 1960. Uber einen mutmasslichen fossilen Harnstein (Urolith) aus 
der Oberen Kreide. Mitteilungen aus dem Geologischen Staatinstitut Hamburg 
29: 85-95.

Hey, if anyone tracks these down and feels like making extra copies, I'd 
love some -- thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry D. Harris
Director of Paleontology
Dixie State College
Science Building
225 South 700 East
St. George, UT  84770   USA
Phone: (435) 652-7758
Fax: (435) 656-4022
E-mail: jharris@dixie.edu
and     dinogami@gmail.com
http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/

"Actually, it's a bacteria-run planet, but
mammals are better at public relations."
                                     -- Dave Unwin