PALAIOS, 2008, v. 23, p. 503–513 Research Article DOI: 10.2110/palo.2007.p07-063r TRACES AND BURROWING BEHAVIORS OF THE CICADA NYMPH CICADETTA CALLIOPE: NEOICHNOLOGY AND PALEOECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF EXTANT SOIL-DWELLING INSECTS JON J. SMITH1* and STEPHEN T. HASIOTIS1,2 1Kansas Geological Survey, 1930 Constant Ave., Lawrence, Kansas 66047-3726, USA; 2Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7613, USA e-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT documented the burrowing traces of extant temporary and permanent soil- dwelling arthropods (e.g., Clark and Ratcliffe, 1989; Hasiotis and Mitch- This study documents the traces and burrowing behaviors of nymphs ell, 1993; Tschinkel, 2003), despite their role as primary agents of pe- of the prairie cicada Cicadetta calliope (Hemiptera: Cicadidae), as doturbation and great abundances in modern soils (Wallwork, 1970; Hole, observed in neoichnological experiments. Cicada nymphs were col- 1981; Hasiotis, 2002). lected from the C horizons of sandy Fluvents along the Kansas River It has been hypothesized (Hasiotis and Bown, 1992; Hasiotis and Du- east of Lawrence, Kansas. The nymphs appeared to be fifth instars, biel, 1994; Hasiotis and Demko, 1996; Hasiotis, 2004) that soil-dwelling 13–17 mm long and 6–7 mm wide. Nymphs were placed in plastic hemipterans should produce meniscate, backfilled burrows similar to enclosures containing layers of colored, moist, very fine-grained sand. some fossil burrows in Mesozoic paleosols. This suggestion is based on They burrowed immediately, excavating air-filled, sediment-enclosed research by Willis and Roth (1962), who examined the behavioral re- cells between 20 mm and 40 mm long and averaging 9 mm wide.