Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:14:10.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A new social insect nest from the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2017

Eric M. Roberts  and
Leif Tapanila
Eric M. Roberts
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa,
Leif Tapanila
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello 83209-8072,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A fossilized social insect nest, Socialites tumulus new ichnogenus and ichnospecies, is described from continental strata of the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation in southern Utah. Nine discrete nest structures are preserved along a single bedding plane, within an area of about 25 m2. Fine-grained, ripple-laminated sandstone, interpreted as a fluvial crevasse splay deposit, drapes the nest structures and is thought to have rapidly buried and preserved much of the aboveground architectural morphology of the nest structures. Such social insects as ants and termites are considered as possible tracemakers. Comparison to fossil and modern nests suggests that Socialites tumulus is more similar to nests produced by ants than by termites. This trace fossil preserves rare, tangible evidence of nest construction by social insects during the Late Cretaceous, adding new information on insect diversity and habitat utilization in Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems. Detailed study of these complex nest structures also aids in paleoenvironmental reconstruction, revealing multiple phases of nest construction, burial, and reestablishment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 80 , Issue 4 , July 2006 , pp. 768 - 774
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agosti, D., Grimaldi, D. A., and Carpenter, J. M. 1997. Oldest known ant fossils discovered. Nature, 391:447.Google Scholar
Bordy, E. M., Bumby, A. J., Catuneanu, O., and Eriksson, P. G. 2004. Advanced Early Jurassic termite (Insecta: Isoptera) nests: Evidence from the Clarens Formation in the Tuli Basin, southern Africa. Palaios, 19:68–78.Google Scholar
Bown, T. M. 1982. Ichnofossils and rhizoliths of the nearshore fluvial Jebel Qatrani Formation (Oligocene), Fayum Province, Egypt. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 40:255–309.Google Scholar
Bown, T. M., and Laza, J. H. 1990. A Miocene termite nest from southern Argentina and its paleoclimatological implications. Ichnos, 1:73–79.Google Scholar
Bown, T. M., Hasiotis, S. T., Genise, J. F., Maldonado, F., and Brouwers, E. 1997. Trace fossils of Hymenoptera and other insects, and paleoenvironments of the Claron Formation (Paleocene and Eocene), southwestern Utah. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 2153C:42–58.Google Scholar
Cifelli, R. L. 1990a. Cretaceous mammals of southern Utah. I. Marsupials from the Kaiparowits Formation (Judithian). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 10:295–319.Google Scholar
Cifelli, R. L. 1990b. Cretaceous mammals of southern Utah. II. Marsupials and marsupial-like mammals from the Wahweap Formation (early Campanian). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 10:320–368.Google Scholar
Eaton, J. G. 1991. Biostratigraphic framework for the Upper Cretaceous rocks of the Kaiparowits Plateau, southern Utah, p. 47–61. In Nations, J. D. and Eaton, J. G. (eds.), Stratigraphy, Depositional Environments, and Sedimentary Tectonics of the Western Margin, Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway. Geological Society of America Special Paper, No. 260.Google Scholar
Eaton, J. G. 2002. Multituberculate mammals from the Wahweap (Campanian, Aquilan) and Kaiparowits (Campanian, Judithian) formations, within and near Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah. Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication, 02–4, 66 p.Google Scholar
Eaton, J. G., and Cifelli, R. L. 1988. Preliminary report on Late Cretaceous mammals of the Kaiparowits Plateau, southern Utah. University of Wyoming Contributions to Geology, 26:45–55.Google Scholar
Genise, J. F. 1997. A fossil termite nest from the Marplatan Stage (late Pliocene) of Argentina: Paleoclimatic indicator. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 136:139–144.Google Scholar
Genise, J. F., and Bown, T. M. 1994. New trace fossils of termites (Insecta: Isoptera) from the late Eocene-early Miocene of Egypt, and the reconstruction of ancient isopteran behavior. Ichnos, 3:155–183.Google Scholar
Genise, J. F., Mangano, M. G., Buatois, L. A., Laza, J. H., and Verde, M. 2000. Insect trace fossil associations in Paleosols: The Coprinisphaera ichnofacies. Palaios, 15:49–64.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstrand, P. M. 1992. Evolution of the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary basins of southwest Utah based on clastic petrology. Journal of Sedimentary, 62:495–507.Google Scholar
Grimaldi, D. A. 1999. Co-radiations of pollinating insects and angiosperms in the Cretaceous. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, 86:373–406.Google Scholar
Grimaldi, D. A., Agosti, D., and Carpenter, J. M. 1997. New and rediscovered primitive ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Cretaceous amber from New Jersey, and their phylogenetic relationships. American Museum of Natural History Novitates, 3208:1–43.Google Scholar
Haldeman, S. S. 1840. A Monograph of the Limniades, and Other Freshwater Univalve Shells of North America: Supplement, Containing Descriptions of Apparently New Animals in Different Classes, and the Names and Characters of the Subgenera in Paludina and Anculosa . Philadelphia, 3 p.Google Scholar
Hasiotis, S. T. 2000. The invertebrate invasion and evolution of Mesozoic soil ecosystems: The ichnofossil record of ecological innovations, p. 141–169. In Gastaldo, R. and Dimichele, W. (eds.), Phanerozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems. Paleontological Society Short Course, No. 6.Google Scholar
Hasiotis, S. T. 2002. Continental Trace Fossil Short Course, Number 51. SEPM, Tulsa, 134 p.Google Scholar
Hasiotis, S. T. 2003. Complex ichnofossils of solitary and social organisms: Understanding their evolution and roles in terrestrial paleoecosystems. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 192:259–320.Google Scholar
Hasiotis, S. T. 2004. Reconnaissance of Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation ichnofossils, Rocky Mountain Region, USA: Paleoenvironmental, stratigraphic, and paleoclimatic significance of terrestrial and freshwater ichnocoenoses. Sedimentary Geology, 167:177–268.Google Scholar
Hasiotis, S. T., and Bown, T. M. 1992. Invertebrate trace fossils: The backbone of continental ichnology, p. 64–104. In Maples, C. and West, R. (eds.), Trace Fossils: Their Paleobiological Aspects. Paleontological Society Short Course, No. 5.Google Scholar
Hasiotis, S. T., and Dubiel, R. F. 1995. Termite (Insecta: Isoptera) nest ichnofossils from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Ichnos, 4:119–130.Google Scholar
Hölldobler, B., and Wilson, E. O. 1990. The Ants. Belknap-Harvard Press, Cambridge, 732 p.Google Scholar
Hutchison, J. H., Eaton, J. G., Holroyd, P. A., and Goodwin, M. B. 1997. Larger vertebrates of the Kaiparowits Formation (Campanian) in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and adjacent areas, p. 391–398. In Hill, L. M. (ed.), Learning from the Land: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Science Symposium Proceedings. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.Google Scholar
Laza, J. H. 1982. Signos de actividad atribuibles a Atta (Myrmicidae, Hymenoptera) en el Mioceno de la Provincia de la Pampa, Republica Argentina. Significacion Paleozoogeographica, Ameghiniana, 19:109–124.Google Scholar
Laza, J. H. 1995. Signos de actividad de insectos, p. 347–361. In Alberdi, T. M., Leone, G., and Tonni, E. P. (eds.), Evolución biológica y climatica de la region pampeana durante los últimos cineo milliones de años. Consejo de Investigaciones Cientificas de España, Madrid.Google Scholar
Laza, J. H. 1997. Activity signals referable to two Acromyrmex species of Pleistocene in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Paleoenvironmental Significance, Geociencias II, 2:56–62.Google Scholar
Levan, M. A., and Stone, E. L. 1983. Soil modification by colonies of black meadow ants in a New York old field. Soil Scientists Society of America Journal, 47:1192–1195.Google Scholar
Little, W. W. 1995. The influence of tectonics and eustacy on alluvial architecture, Middle Coniacian through Campanian strata of the Kaiparowits Basin, Utah. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Colorado, Boulder, 328 p.Google Scholar
Martin, L. D., and West, D. L. 1995. The recognition and use of dermestid (Insecta, Coleoptera) pupation chambers in paleoecology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 113:303–310.Google Scholar
McCord, R. D. 1997. Late Cretaceous Microherpetofaunas of the Kaiparowits Plateau, Utah. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, 147 p.Google Scholar
Roberts, E. M., Chan, M. A., and Sampson, S. 2003. Taphonomic analysis of the Late Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation in the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, southern Utah. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 35(6):591A.Google Scholar
Sampson, S. D., Loewen, M. A., Gates, T. A., Zanno, L. E., and Kirkland, J. I. 2002. New evidence of dinosaurs and other vertebrates from the Upper Cretaceous Wahweap and Kaiparowits formations, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, southern Utah. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 34(4):5.Google Scholar
Smith, J., Getty, M., Gates, T., Roberts, E., and Sampson, S. 2003. Fossil vertebrates from the Kaiparowits Formation, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument: An important window into the Late Cretaceous of Utah. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 23(3):98A.Google Scholar
Smith, R. M. H., and Mason, T. R. 1998. Sedimentary environments and trace fossils of Tertiary oasis deposits in the central Namib Desert, Namibia. Palaios, 13:547–559.Google Scholar
Sudd, J. H. 1967. An Introduction to the Behavior of Ants. Edward Arnold, London, 200 p.Google Scholar
Tschinkel, W. R. 2003. Subterranean ant nests: Trace fossils past and future? Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 192:321–333.Google Scholar
Wang, D., McSweeney, K., Lowery, B., and Norman, J. M. 1995. Nest structure of ant Lasius neoniger Emery and its implications to soil modification. Geoderma, 66:259–272.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. O. 1971. The Insect Societies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 371 p.Google Scholar