Ichnoentomology: insect traces in soils, palaeosols and other substrates

Abstract

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.