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.

中文翻译：

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南美白pri的新生代记录揭示了南美洲最早的食虫性甲虫爆发

来自巴塔哥尼亚的中新世古土壤序列的新的人类学，沉积学和古植物学信息，带有大量的甲虫化石球（Coprinisphaera），可以推断出金龟子的进化历史，生物学和摄食习性的新方面，以及古环境和古气候条件他们筑巢了。均归因于尸食性食性甲虫的Topriii tonnii和Cotannisphaera akatanka占标本的40.2％。考虑到它们在南美较早的新生代单元中稀少或零记录，这些高值表明，中新世期间发生了一次食尸类甲虫的第一次爆发。一些鸡肋保留指示球乘员发育阶段和成年婴儿成功的性格。两种鱼类都显示出与供养室隔离的卵室，这与卵寄生虫对食虫球的偏爱较高有关。的丰度在巢入侵者的迹线之间的比较Coprinisphaera归因既尸食性和从南美的不同单元coprophagous甲虫表明，这种入侵者的存在将是独立的载球内的有机物质的性质。在鸡腿藻中进行的植石分析现存的食尸球和食腐球表明，育雏球壁中植物石块的相对丰度，它们的填充和轴承古土壤之间的比较是推论示踪者摄食行为和支持香豆菌归因的有用工具。和红腹山茱to（Coprinisphaera akatanka）为食尸类的金龟子。沉积和古土壤分析表明，在季节性亚湿，温带-温带气候下，甲虫可能会在排水良好的土壤中筑巢，这些土壤在以草为主的栖息地中表现出类似分子的特征。