Coprinisphaera akatanka isp. nov.: The first fossil brood ball attributable to necrophagous dung beetles associated with an Early Pleistocene environmental stress in the Pampean region (Argentina)

Cantil, Liliana F.; Sánchez, María Victoria López; Bellosi, Eduardo S.; González, Mirta G.; Sarzetti, Laura Cristina; Genise, Jorge Fernando

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.06.021

Cited by 24 publications

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“…Fossil brood balls of dung beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae), namely Coprinisphaera , have been subjected to a steadily growing interest during the past 25 years (Genise and references therein). They keep a wide spectrum of information, which includes some aspects of the evolutionary history of the dung beetles, the ecosystems they inhabited (Sánchez et al , ; Cantil et al , ) and the composition of the ancient soil biota (Bellosi ). The record of Coprinisphaera in South American Cenozoic palaeosols has provided data on the diet of herbivore mammals and the associated vegetation by phytolith analysis (Sánchez et al , ), the dung palaeocommunity by the identification of traces within traces (Sánchez & Genise ; Sánchez et al ) and the feeding habit of the trace makers by comparison with extant brood balls (Cantil et al , ).…”

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“…They keep a wide spectrum of information, which includes some aspects of the evolutionary history of the dung beetles, the ecosystems they inhabited (Sánchez et al , ; Cantil et al , ) and the composition of the ancient soil biota (Bellosi ). The record of Coprinisphaera in South American Cenozoic palaeosols has provided data on the diet of herbivore mammals and the associated vegetation by phytolith analysis (Sánchez et al , ), the dung palaeocommunity by the identification of traces within traces (Sánchez & Genise ; Sánchez et al ) and the feeding habit of the trace makers by comparison with extant brood balls (Cantil et al , ). Coprinisphaera tonnii , poorly represented in middle Eocene–lower Miocene deposits (Sánchez et al ), and C. akatanka , only recorded from Pleistocene deposits until now (Cantil et al , ), have been attributed to necrophagous dung beetles mainly because they preserve one of the typical morphological characters showed in brood balls made by extant necrophagous species: the egg chamber separated from the provision chamber.…”

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The earliest burst of necrophagous dung beetles in South America revealed by the Cenozoic record of Coprinisphaera

Cantil

Bellosi

Sánchez

et al. 2020

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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.

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The earliest burst of necrophagous dung beetles in South America revealed by the Cenozoic record of Coprinisphaera

Cantil

Bellosi

Sánchez

et al. 2020

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“…Similar structures of brood balls have been already described for the necrophagous C. cyanellus cyanellus (Halffter et al 1983;Favila 2001;Hernández-Martínez and Martínez 2003) and Canthon bispinus Germar (Judulien 1899;Fabre 1899;Halffter and Matthews 1966). The complete isolation of the egg chamber from the provision chamber by a partition of soil material is also present in necrophagous species of Coprophanaeus Olsoufieff (Fabre 1899; Judulien 1899; Barattini and Sáenz 1953;Cantil et al 2012) and preserved in Pleistocene brood balls from Argentina named as Coprinisphaera akatanka Cantil et al (2013). This isolation was proposed as a mechanism to avoid contact between the egg and possible cleptoparasites, parasitoids, and fungi brought with the provisions (Laza 2006;Sánchez 2009).…”

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confidence: 98%

“…This isolation was proposed as a mechanism to avoid contact between the egg and possible cleptoparasites, parasitoids, and fungi brought with the provisions (Laza 2006;Sánchez 2009). The isolation would be maximum in the case of brood balls constructed by necrophagous species (Cantil et al 2012(Cantil et al , 2013.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Is the ejection of larval feces outside the ball reflecting that provisions cannot be re-ingested several times or, on the contrary, that provisions are more efficiently exploited? The acquisition of necrophagous habits in South America was prompted by the Pleistocene extinction of dung providers (Halffter 1959(Halffter , 1991Halffter and Matthews 1966;Cantil et al 2013). Fresh carrion is considered a higher quality food than dung because of its content of proteins and nitrogen, which results in faster larval development (Scholtz et al 2009).…”

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Food Relocation Behavior, Nests, and Brood Balls of Canthon quinquemaculatus Laporte de Castelnau (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Cantil

Sánchez

Dinghi

et al. 2014

The Coleopterists Bulletin

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The Paleontological Context. Ichnology

Laza

2020

Ichnology of the Lowlands of South America

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Except for some previous records, the first attempts for the study of the lying tracks on sediments started at the beginning of the nineteenth century, as well as the efforts for creating a suitable terminology. Its installation as a scientific discipline began at the end of the nineteenth century. By middle twentieth century, a modern and organized scheme for the classification of ichnofossils and their location in ichnofacies was proposed. Firstly, the only recognized ichnofacies corresponded to marine environments and were defined by bathymetric levels and particular ichnofossils. Immediately, ichnofacies corresponding to transition environments from those marine to continental were identified. In 1985, the ichnological nomenclature became part of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. During the 1970s and 1980s, there were papers describing ichnites of continental origin, events that quickly led to the organization of the formal reconnaissance of environments carrying continental tracks, giving rise to successive ichnofacies. Apart from the paleosurfaces, the ichnological content is rich and quite varied in paleosols and so are the tracks of insect nests, solitary or in groups in these paleosols. Keywords Ichnology • Continental ichnofacies • Ichnites in paleosols Scheme of Continental IchnofaciesAlthough inert in themselves, the constructions made by a living organism contain a true flow of information about the needs and intentions of its builder (Lovelock 1979).Leaving aside some reference to coprolites toward the end of the seventeenth century, the beginnings of ichnology go back to the beginning of the nineteenth century with the description of vertebrate footprints and traces from marine rocks; additional tasks slowly developed and Ichnology attained status of scientific discipline in the last decades of the nineteenth century (Osgood 1975). The term Ichnology was proposed by Buckland in 1836, during the study of invertebrate trace fossils which were interpreted as belonging to algae ("fucoides") until Nathorst (1881), using the Uniformitarism Principle, proved their zoological origin.

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Coprinisphaera akatanka isp. nov.: The first fossil brood ball attributable to necrophagous dung beetles associated with an Early Pleistocene environmental stress in the Pampean region (Argentina)

Cited by 24 publications

References 65 publications

The earliest burst of necrophagous dung beetles in South America revealed by the Cenozoic record of Coprinisphaera

The earliest burst of necrophagous dung beetles in South America revealed by the Cenozoic record of Coprinisphaera

Food Relocation Behavior, Nests, and Brood Balls of Canthon quinquemaculatus Laporte de Castelnau (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

The Paleontological Context. Ichnology

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