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Lipid analysis of a ground sloth coprolite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Fiona L. Gill ,
Matthew P. Crump ,
Remmert Schouten  and
Ian D. Bull
Fiona L. Gill*
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Matthew P. Crump
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Remmert Schouten
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK
Ian D. Bull
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +44 117 925 1295.

E-mail address:chflg@bristol.ac.uk (F.L. Gill).

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Abstract

Coprolites can provide detailed information about the nutritional habits and digestive processes of the animals that produced them and may also yield information about the palaeoenvironment in which the animal existed. To test the utility of the lipid biomarker approach to coprolite analysis, lipids were extracted from a coprolite of the Pleistocene ground sloth Nothrotheriops shastensis. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry results revealed a dominant spiroketal sapogenin component identified, using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, as epismilagenin. The dominance of epismilagenin is probably due to ingestion of Yucca spp. and Agave spp., which is consistent with previous studies on the diet of this species.

Keywords

CoproliteSapogeninEpismilageninLipidBiomarkerNothrotheriops shastensisGround sloth
Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 72 , Issue 2 , September 2009 , pp. 284 - 288
Copyright
University of Washington

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