taxonID	type	description	language	source
03C3879EF104FFBFAA253FD4FA89FE96.taxon	description	Figure 2 A – J Description. The specimen consists of an aggregation of several hundred hexagonally prismatic opaline pellets; the block is 27 mm long, 16 mm wide, and 10 mm thick (Figure 2 A – D). Individual pellets are oblong, 0.97 – (1.33) – 1.62 mm long (n = 40), 0.59 – (0.76) – 1.00 mm in transverse diameter (n = 40), and conspicuously hexagonal in cross-section (Figure 2 E – G), with smoothly faceted surfaces (Figure 2 H – J), and truncate to broadly rounded ends. Tomographic analysis reveals that individual coprolites have either a uniform finely granular internal composition (Figure 2 E) or have an equivalent uniform outer rind and an internal cavity or porous region constituting one- to twothirds of the pellet diameter (Figure 2 F – G). The cavities locally contain irregularly arranged minute flecks of detritus. The coprolites lack any obvious regular organization or common orientation (Figure 2 C). They are bound together by porous interstitial clays or opaline silica (Figures 2 D, I, 3).	en	McLoughlin, Stephen, Santos, Artai A., Donaldson, Sherri, Pott, Christian, McCurry, Matthew (2024): Termite activity in the mid-Cretaceous of Australia. Palaeontologia Electronica (a 48) 27 (3): 1-30, DOI: 10.26879/1420, URL: https://doi.org/10.26879/1420
03C3879EF104FFBFAA253FD4FA89FE96.taxon	discussion	Remarks. The structures described in this study differ from replacements of euhedral quartz crystals by their bluntly rounded termini (at both ends of the pellets) and irregular arrangement. These mid-Cretaceous structures are interpreted to be termite coprolites based on their equivalency in shape and cross-section to termite coprolites assigned to Microcarpolithes hexagonalis Vangerow, from the Late Cretaceous of the Netherlands (Vangerow, 1954; Colin et al., 2011). Microcarpolithes hexagonalis was originally considered to represent angiosperm seeds but later reinterpreted by Kovach and Dilcher (1988) as termite coprolites (Colin et al., 2011; Moreau et al., 2019). Here we follow the criteria of Colin et al. (2011) who proposed that Microcarpolithes hexagonalis “ must be used to uniquely designate termite coprolites that are cylindrical in shape and with a conspicuous hexagonal section, making it clearly distinct from some coprolites of curculionid weevil larvae that occasionally produce subhexagonal pellets. ” Although the Australian Cretaceous coprolites are slightly longer than the type specimen of M. hexagonalis from Europe, we do not regard this small difference (less than 1 mm) to be taxonomically significant for a trace fossil, which is in line with the proposal that size should not be considered primary criteria for differentiating ichnotaxa (Bertling et al., 2022).	en	McLoughlin, Stephen, Santos, Artai A., Donaldson, Sherri, Pott, Christian, McCurry, Matthew (2024): Termite activity in the mid-Cretaceous of Australia. Palaeontologia Electronica (a 48) 27 (3): 1-30, DOI: 10.26879/1420, URL: https://doi.org/10.26879/1420
