Neoichnology of cicada nymphs and beetle grubs

Cicada nymphs and beetle grubs were placed into experimental enclosures and observed in order to explain the morphology of their traces. It was observed that these nymphs and grubs were able to make adhesive meniscate burrows in well-drained media without ingesting sediment. Grubs and nymphs moved through the sediment by excavating an empty cell around their bodies, then moved the cell through the enclosure by scraping sediment from the front of the cell, grasping sediment in their limbs while somersaulting, then packing the sediment behind them on the back end of the cell. Burrows produced in enclosures of layered, colored sand appeared as long bands of crescent-shaped material of alternating color. This research falsifies the previous hypothesis that sediment-ingesting organisms produce this style of burrow and are restricted to marine settings and aquatic or saturated continental environments. Research is on going as there is a vast opportunity to study a wide variety of insects, arthropods, and other invertebrates that spend some portion of their lives in soil.
Researchers: Hasiotis, Smith, Counts