Prasad Vandana, Strömberg Caroline A E, Alimohammadian Habib, Sahni Ashok
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow-226 007, India.
Science. 2005 Nov 18;310(5751):1177-80. doi: 10.1126/science.1118806.
Silicified plant tissues (phytoliths) preserved in Late Cretaceous coprolites from India show that at least five taxa from extant grass (Poaceae) subclades were present on the Indian subcontinent during the latest Cretaceous. This taxonomic diversity suggests that crown-group Poaceae had diversified and spread in Gondwana before India became geographically isolated. Other phytoliths extracted from the coprolites (from dicotyledons, conifers, and palms) suggest that the suspected dung producers (titanosaur sauropods) fed indiscriminately on a wide range of plants. These data also make plausible the hypothesis that gondwanatherian mammals with hypsodont cheek teeth were grazers.
保存在印度晚白垩世粪化石中的硅化植物组织（植硅体）表明，在晚白垩世晚期，印度次大陆上至少存在现存禾本科（Poaceae）亚分支的五个分类群。这种分类多样性表明，在印度在地理上孤立之前，禾本科冠群已经在冈瓦纳大陆上分化并扩散。从粪化石中提取的其他植硅体（来自双子叶植物、针叶树和棕榈树）表明，疑似粪便生产者（泰坦巨龙类蜥脚类恐龙）不加选择地以多种植物为食。这些数据也使具有高冠颊齿的冈瓦纳兽类哺乳动物是食草动物这一假说变得合理。
