Bromalites are the fossilized remains of material sourced from the digestive system of organisms. As such, they can be broadly considered to be

trace fossils A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, ...

. The most well-known types of bromalites are fossilized faeces or

coprolites A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name is de ...

. However, other types are recognised, including: regurgitalites (fossilized remains of vomit or other regurgitated objects such as

owl pellet A pellet, in ornithology, is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate. The contents of a bird's pellet depend on its diet, but can include the exoskeletons of insects, indigestible plant ...

s); cololites (intestinal contents); and gastrolites (stomach contents). Regurtitalites and coprolites are thus essentially known only after they have left the body of the producing organisms, whereas gastrolites and cololites are found in ''situ'' in their respective organs, but there are rare exceptions (see Seilacher, 2002). Whilst coprolites and regurgitalites are often difficult to tie to a specific producer, all bromalites potentially provide important and sometimes unique evidence concerning diet and other trophic factors. They are thus useful indicators for reconstructing ancient food webs in

palaeoecology Paleoecology (also spelled palaeoecology) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs ...

References

{{Cite journal , last1 = Aldridge , first1 = R. J. , last2 = Gabbott , first2 = S. E. , last3 = Siveter , first3 = L. J. , last4 = Theron , first4 = J. N. , title = Bromalites from the Soom Shale Lagerstätte (Upper Ordovician) of South Africa: Palaeoecological and palaeobiological implications , doi = 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00570.x , journal = Palaeontology , volume = 49 , issue = 4 , pages = 857 , year = 2006 , doi-access = free Trace fossils Seilacher, A. 2002. Non olet: The strange taphonomy of coprolites and cololites. 233-240 pp., In: (M. De Renzi, M. Pardo, M. Belinchón, E. Peñalver, P. Montoya & A. Márquez Aliaga, Eds), Current Topics on Taphonomy and Fossilization. Ayuntamiento de Valencia: 544 pp. Valencia.