Prey material, which was collected from beneath the nests of two pairs of crowned hawk-eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) in the Ngogo study area, Kibale National Park, Uganda, was analyzed to identify the taphonomic features diagnostic of eagle predation. Material from a recent three-year collection interval was compared to an earlier three-year collection subsample to determine signal consistency over time. The bulk of the assemblage is comprised of cercopithecoid monkey remains, reflecting the taxonomic composition of the Ngogo area. Taxonomic composition of the assemblage remains highly consistent over the collection period. Bone survivability and fragmentation profiles, as well as damage patterns, also were investigated. Crowned hawk-eagles inflict much less damage to prey skeletons than do mammalian carnivores. Crania, scapulae, and hindlimb elements are most likely to survive predation by crowned hawk-eagles and to be concentrated at nest sites, but these elements (especially crania) show age-specific patterns of fragmentation and damage. Bone survivability profiles remain highly consistent throughout the duration of the collection period. Fragmentation and damage patterns—when tallied quantitatively—are more variable, but do not resemble those expected under predation by mammalian carnivores. Regurgitated elements in hair boluses also were examined; when compared with the rest of the assemblage, they show very different patterns. In summary, crowned hawk-eagle predation provides a taphonomic signature distinguishable from those of other predatory accumulating agents (e.g., non-human mammalian carnivores, owls, and humans), and this signal remains consistent over time, leading to the expectation that it may remain intact in fossil assemblages.

Thousands of animal tracks are preserved in wind-blown cross-strata of the Lower Jurassic Navajo Sandstone at Coyote Buttes on the Arizona-Utah border, USA. Tracks deform thin grainflows that were deposited on the slip faces of large dunes. In cross-section, laminae (pin stripes) are smoothly folded, and are only very rarely broken. There is no sign of a central shaft left open when the trackmaker's foot was withdrawn from the substrate. At the top of each track, folded laminae are truncated by the pin stripe that marks the base of the next (younger) grainflow. Within some trackways, progressively younger tracks move up-section to younger grainflows. The folded, unbroken pin stripes and absence of a distinct shaft fill are inconsistent with a moist-sand (cohesive) substrate. Stratigraphic relationships between tracks and grainflows indicate that, as the animals moved across the slip face, they triggered dry avalanches, and then stepped on the newly deposited grainflows. Although scour by grainflows can remove shallow tracks, the loose packing (high porosity) of grainflows ensures that the feet of larger animals will penetrate well below the level of the next erosive surface. Although dry dune sand previously has been denigrated as a medium for track preservation, this example shows that dry eolian grainflows, due to their loose packing and their position in the zone of flow separation on the dune lee slope, can preserve abundant, clear tracks. A dry-sand origin of the tracks corroborates an earlier interpretation of the grainflows as December–February (dry season) deposits of cross-equatorial winds.

The Heiligkreuz-Santa Croce Formation (also known as Dürrenstein Formation, Upper Triassic) in the Dolomites contains one of the most ancient and substantial Triassic amber deposits in the world. The amber is found in sandstones and paleosols. It has an affinity to the conifer family Cheirolepidiaceae, and amber samples from the Julian and Carnic Alps (Southern Alps) also show an affinity to this family.

Physico-chemical investigations of the amber from the Dolomites by solid-state Fourier-transform infrared analysis (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), pyrolysis-gas-chromatography/mass-spectrometry (pyr-GC/MS), thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermogravimetry (DTG), and automatized elemental analysis yielded a complete characterization of the amber, and allowed comparison with other ambers and younger resins (copals). FTIR revealed absorption bands typical of all fossil resins, and the spectrum region from 8–10 μm provided a fingerprint of the Triassic amber that differs from other known resins. The NMR spectrum also shows a typical pattern for fossil resins, but peculiar peak abundances permitted further characterization of the Triassic amber, both in the saturated (10–70 ppm) and unsaturated carbon region (100–160 ppm). The amber also lacks exomethylene resonances found in younger resins at 110 and 150 ppm. Pyrolysis-gas-chromatography/mass-spectrometry (pyr-GC/MS) experiments showed the amber was of class II, with some components of Class I. Thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermogravimetric (DTG) analyses of combustion behavior of Triassic amber indicated a main exothermal event near 437°C, higher than that of other known resins. The elemental composition of Triassic amber is consistent with well-known constituents of natural resins, although the sulfur content was higher, likely due to high sulfur content in the embedding sediment. Triassic amber from the Dolomites appears to be a new kind of fossil resin with unique stratigraphical and physico-chemical characteristics.

A crinoid Lagerstätte of Chariocrinus württembergicus (Opalinuston Formation, Aalenian, Middle Jurassic) was formed under storm conditions. The Lagerstätte is oriented parallel to paleowave crests, and exhumed concretions indicate sediment reworking. Paleoflow was nearly perpendicular to (storm-) wave ripple-crests and was directed towards a depocenter to the south-southeast. Both waves and currents affected crinoid parts, such as stems, and document combined flow conditions. The crinoids lived on a low-relief swell somewhat above storm wave base in a muddy environment, and caused their own in-situ burial. During a storm, wave agitation led to suspension of sediments extending into the habitat of the crinoids. The crinoids provided additional friction within the near-bottom, suspension-rich, agitated water body, thereby reducing the speed of water currents. This led to sediment deposition, and the crinoids were buried in fine-grained sand and silt. In this way, they induced their own burial; therefore, the Lagerstätte is the product of a feedback process. Rapid burial of the crinoids led to their excellent preservation. Articulated preservation is possible only if the flow was too slow to remove the crinoids from their substrate. Some crinoids tried to escape these hostile conditions by autotomizing their crowns, but these were pushed down to the seafloor by oscillatory water movement, and were immediately covered, mouth upward, by sediments. The preserved crowns provide an estimate of the population density in the range of 110 animals m⁻², which is a minimum value because some crowns might have been washed away before burial.

The oyster Crassostrea? hatcheri (Ortmann) is one of the most common fossils in Oligocene–Miocene marine rocks in Patagonia, southern Argentina. This oyster is distinguished by its large size and the great thickness of its valves. It built framework reefs in shallow-shelf environments, and its valves form large biogenic and sedimentologic concentrations exposed in many areas of Patagonia. This paper focuses on the community of boring and encrusting organisms living on the valves of C.? hatcheri, in both the biogenic and sedimentologic concentrations. This community includes fungi, algae, sponges, arthropods, bryozoans, phoronids, polychaetes, brachiopods, and mollusks. The recorded diversity is comparable to that observed in Recent oyster reefs, suggesting that C.? hatcheri was a physical ecosystem engineer in shallow-shelf environments during the late Oligocene–early Miocene. Primary factors in their role as facilitating organisms were, besides the size of the valves, the age of adult specimens (average = 25 years), high population densities, wide geographical range (more than 10° latitude), and long temporal range (more than 5 My), in addition to the framework of the reefs and the sedimentologic concentrations of the valves.

The ichnogenus Psilonichnus and its named ichnospecies are evaluated for their utility in paleoenvironmental reconstructions. A combined ichnological-sedimentological model for shoreface-estuarine-fluvial settings is presented herein to show distributions of the ichnospecies of Psilonichnus in an ichnofacies framework. High-resolution differentiation of coastal paleoenvironments may be achieved in strata containing Psilonichnus only if the trace fossils are identified to ichnospecies level, and if they are assessed as sedimentary structures within a depositional context. The simple Y-, J-, and I-shaped, vertical to inclined burrows referred to as Psilonichnus include three distinct ichnospecies–P. tubiformis, P. upsilon, and P. lutimuratus. Each can be attributed to either of two decapod crustacean progenitors, thalassinoid mud shrimp, or ocypodid ghost crabs. The ichnogenus occurs in association with the Psilonichnus, Glossifungites, and Skolithos ichnofacies in estuary/bay to backshore/dune sedimentary settings. Psilonichnus has proved to be an effective paleoenvironmental indicator, especially in studies of sequence stratigraphy. To date, however, inconsistencies in both ichnotaxonomic and ichnofacies assignments for Psilonichnus, and confusion regarding probable tracemakers, have diminished its usefulness to sedimentary geology. To avoid such problems, each new field occurrence of a potential Psilonichnus trace must be evaluated thoroughly within its biological, ecological, and physical context.

The lower Apaporis River area (Colombian Amazonia) is characterized by fluvial and coastal sediments of Middle to Late Miocene age. These sediments, here informally called Apaporis sand unit, are in nonconformable contact with the Precambrian basement, and were deposited in a low-sinuosity fluvial system with an anastomosing character that originated in the Guyana Shield. The predominantly sandy unit has organic-rich clay intervals that contain a palynological assemblage dominated by the mangrove Zonocostites ramonae (Rhizophora) and the palm Mauritiidites franciscoi (Mauritia). Abundant Zonocostites (25–85%), together with the occurrence of marine palynomorphs (dinoflagellates and foraminiferal inner-wall linings), indicate the presence of well-developed coastal mangrove forests and marine incursions. Occasional decrease of Zonocostites in favor of Mauritiidites suggests that the coastline fluctuated and the mangroves were replaced by palm vegetation. The Middle to Late Miocene age of these sediments is based on presence of the palynological marker species Grimsdalea magnaclavata and absence of the older biostratigraphic marker Crassoretitriletes vanraadshoovenii and the younger Asteraceae. This makes the unit equivalent in age to the upper Pebas/Solimões Formation. The marine ingression and coastal conditions in the heart of Amazonia possibly are related to a combination of global sea-level rise (Serravallian?) and subsidence in the periphery of the Guyana Shield. Modern analogues of the Miocene Apaporis fluvial/ coastal interface are present-day fluvial and coastal environments in Surinam and the Guyanas.