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The new invertebrate trace fossil from paleosols of the Bijori Formation, Palliedaphichnium gondwanicum new ichnogenus new ichnospecies, which belongs to an upper Permian Gondwana sequence of India, makes a significant contribution to the meager records of invertebrate trace fossils from Permian and Indian paleosols. This trace fossil attributed to Diplopoda and composed of tunnels and chambers filled with pellets is also an important addition to the scarce record of Permian millipedes. The abundance of plant remains in the same paleosol indicates that these millipedes probably fed on leaf litter as other fossil and extant representatives. Chambers and abundant pellets in burrows indicate adverse conditions on the surface, at least seasonally. This finding contributes to the emerging scenario of invertebrate ichnofaunas from paleosols and points to a successive dominance of millipedes during the Paleozoic, crayfishes and earthworms in the Mesozoic, and insects in the Cenozoic. UUID: http://zoobank.org/4378c739-9bd1-4382-b084-e2176045e209 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An insect boring of unique shape is described from a lignitic layer within the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Skyttegård Member of the Rabekke Formation on Bornholm. Morphologically it cannot be compared to any modern or fossil wood borings, although some structures are reminiscent of Scolytidae, Platypodidae and Lymexylonidae. Most probably, however, the tracemaker was a female fungus-farming beetle, thus producing an agrichnion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New ichnological, sedimentological and palaeobotanical information from a Miocene palaeosol succession from Patagonia bearing abundant fossil brood balls of dung beetles (Coprinisphaera) allow inferring novel aspects of the evolutionary history, biology and feeding habits of Scarabaeinae, along with the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic conditions in which they nested. Coprinisphaera tonnii and Coprinisphaera akatanka, both attributed to necrophagous dung beetles, represent 40.2% of the specimens. Considering their scarce or null record in older Cenozoic units from South America, these high values reveal that the first burst of necrophagous Scarabaeinae took place during the Miocene. Some Coprinisphaera preserve characters that indicate the developmental stage of the ball occupant and the adult emergence success. Both ichnospecies show the egg chamber isolated from the provision chamber, which was associated with a higher preference of cleptoparasites for necrophagous balls. The comparison among the abundance of traces of nest intruders in Coprinisphaera attributed both to necrophagous and to coprophagous beetles from different units of South America indicates that the presence of such intruders would be independent of the nature of the organic matter contained within the balls. Phytolith analyses performed in Coprinisphaera and extant necrophagous and coprophagous balls indicate that the comparison between the relative abundance of phytoliths in the wall of the brood ball, their infilling and the bearing palaeosol is a useful tool for inferring the feeding behaviour of the trace makers and support the attribution of Coprinisphaera tonnii and Coprinisphaera akatanka to necrophagous Scarabaeinae. Sedimentary and palaeosol analyses indicate that the beetles would have nested in well‐drained soils showing mollic‐like features, in grass‐dominated habitats, under a seasonal sub‐humid, temperate–warm climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ichnology is the science that studies traces, mostly trace fossils, which are defined as morphologically recurrent structures (nests, burrows, trackways) resulting from the life activity of an individual organism modifying the substrate. Leonardo da Vinci was probably the first ichnologist. He mentioned the existence of traces of worms in rocks. Trace fossils reflect how extinct animals behaved. They are as parts of a time machine that allow us to almost see how extinct animals made their nests, fed, reproduced and walked. Moreover, they allow us to reconstruct palaeoenvironments and the evolutionary history of many taxa. Ichnology was originally developed by geologists; traces first caught our attention in rocks (palaeoichnology) and then in extant environments (neoichnology). For many years ichnology was only studied in marine or lacustrine environments, whereas terrestrial ichnology has been developed over the last few decades. Insect traces are the most common in terrestrial environments, such as palaeosols, but they are also common in plant remains, bones, and in some subaquatic substrates. Ichnoentomology deals with insect traces in soils, palaeosols and other substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specimens of Fictovichnus gobiensis, Celliforma curvata, Celliforma rosellii, Celliforma germanica and Celliforma isp. were collected from paleosol horizons in a fluviolacustrine succession near Santiago Yolomécatl town, in northwestern Oaxaca, southern Mexico. These ichnofossils represent the oldest evidence of beetles and bees in Mexican localities. K-Ar ages and the record of the equid Miohippus assiniboiensis, an index fossil, indicate that the age of the deposits is late Eocene. Based on the presence of the insect ichnofossils, pedogenic carbonate isotopes and mammal proxies, the inferred type of vegetation present in the study area was scrubland/woodland, within subhumid to subarid conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: More than 4000 insect trace fossils collected in recent years from Pliocene deposits at Laetoli in northern Tanzania provide new insights on early hominin palaeoenvironments. These trace fossils include: Fictovichnus gobiensis, Coprinisphaera murguiai, C. kheprii, Coprinisphaera ispp., Quirogaichnus isp., Teisseirei linguatus isp. nov., Celliforma ritchiei isp. nov., C. spirifer, C. germanica, C. cfr. curvata, Celliforma ispp., Rosellichnus isp., Vondrichnus planoglobus, Laetolichnus kwekai igen. et isp. nov. and Krausichnidae indet. They reveal that at least one species of moth, three dung beetles and five other coleopterans, nine taxa of solitary bees, and an indeterminate number of taxa of termites inhabited the Lower Laetolil environments. The Upper Laetolil environments, which have yielded a rich diversity of vertebrate fossils, including the early hominin Australopithecus afarensis and its putative footprints, supported several taxa of termites, one dung beetle, five other coleopterans, and eleven taxa of bees. The Upper Ndolanya environments, which have yielded the hominin Paranthropus aethiopicus, record four taxa of dung beetles, four other coleopterans, and two taxa of bees. The record of larval mortality and lack of intruder activity, revealed by the absence of emergence and intruder traces, may be associated with the anoxic/hypoxic conditions caused by the instantaneous burial of soils under thick volcanic ashes. The record of the Celliforma Ichnofacies in the Upper Laetolil environments indicates the dominance of shrubland to woodland with limited grass cover. This is supported also by the absence of Coprinisphaera, which suggests a scarcity of fresh grasses and a low abundance of large mammal grazers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forty‐two remains of fossil nests of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), which were recorded in four formations of the Cenozoic of South America, are described herein for the first time. Most of them are represented by nesting chambers containing a fossil brood ball (Coprinisphaera). However, in the most remarkable cases, parts of the burrows constructed by the parents and/or the vertical emergence burrows constructed by the offspring are preserved too. The preservation of the dung beetle nests is very unusual but more recurrent in younger formations probably because of the short‐term action of the diagenetic processes. Considering that the construction of brood balls always involves the construction of nests, the ichnotaxonomical proposal is that the remains of fossil nests should be considered as ‘structures associated with Coprinisphaera’ and added to the diagnosis to avoid the proliferation of names. The study of the fossil nests provides new palaeoetological inferences for dung beetles, such as the Nesting Pattern of the trace makers of Coprinisphaera tonnii and Coprinisphaera akatanka, and how phylogenetically related were they with the extant necrophagous species of the genera Coprophanaeus and Canthon, respectively. Additionally, the fossil evidence suggests that simple nests of dung beetles predate compound nests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]