Insect faunas from the latest Cretaceous are poorly known worldwide. Particularly, in the Southern Hemisphere, there is a gap regarding insect assemblages in the Campanian-Maastrichtian interval. Here we present an insect assemblage from the Maastrichtian Chorrillo Formation, southern Argentina, represented by well-preserved and non-deformed, chitinous microscopic remains including head capsules, wings and scales. Identified clades include Chironomidae dipterans, Coelolepida lepidopterans, and Ephemeroptera. The assemblage taxonomically resembles those of Cenozoic age, rather than other Mesozoic assemblages, in being composed by diverse chironomids and lepidopterans. To the best of our knowledge, present discovery constitutes the first insect body fossils for the Maastrichtian in the Southern Hemisphere, thus filling the gap between well-known Early Cretaceous entomofaunas and those of Paleogene age. The presented evidence shows that modern clades of chironomids were already dominant and diversified by the end of the Cretaceous, in concert with the parallel radiation of aquatic angiosperms which became dominant in freshwater habitats. This exceptional finding encourages the active search of microscopic remains of fossil arthropods in other geological units, which could provide a unique way of enhancing our knowledge on the past diversity of the clade.

The ecology of aquatic protists such as testate amoebae is poorly known worldwide, but is almost completely unknown in lakes of the northern Neotropics. To address this knowledge gap, we analyzed testate amoebae (Amoebozoa: Arcellinidae) in lakes of the Lacandón Forest, one of the most biodiverse parts of southern México. We set out to evaluate the diversity of testate amoebae communities and assess whether testate amoebae taxa are reliable indicators of environmental variables dissolved oxygen and water depth. We collected 17 surface sediment samples from a range of water depths in six lakes across the Naha-Metzabok Biosphere Reserve, northeastern Chiapas state. We identified 15 testate amoebae taxa distributed across seven genera. Eleven were identified to species level and four to strain (infra-subspecific level), and taxa were distributed unevenly among samples. Distribution of taxa in samples was related to dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the water measured near the sediment surface. Arcella discoides and Centropyxis aculeata strain “aculeata” were the most tolerant of low oxygen concentrations, whereas the other taxa require higher DO levels. The influence of oxygen was also seen at the assemblage level. Sites with low DO concentrations had Shannon Diversity Index (SDI) values <1.5, an indication of stressful ambient conditions. We identified two species assemblage types, which are distinguished by their oxygen concentration requirements. Assemblage 1 was more diverse and possessed species that are intolerant of low oxygen concentrations, whereas Assemblage 2 possessed fewer, rarer, opportunistic species that tolerate stressful conditions. Low oxygen concentrations are related to water depth and the combination of these two variables is important in determining the composition of testate amoebae assemblages in Lacandón Forest lakes. Quantitative relationships between testate amoebae assemblages and water depth will enable use of sedimented amoebae remains for paleolimnological inference of past water level changes in lakes of the Lacandón Forest.

Understanding how animals respond to large-scale environmental changes is difficult to achieve because monitoring data are rarely available for more than the past few decades, if at all. Here, we demonstrate how a variety of palaeoecological proxies (e.g. isotopes, geochemistry and DNA) from an Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) guano deposit from Argentina can be used to explore breeding site fidelity and the impacts of environmental changes on avian behaviour. We found that condors used the nesting site since at least approximately 2200 years ago, with an approximately 1000-year nesting frequency slowdown fromca1650 to 650 years before the present (yr BP). We provide evidence that the nesting slowdown coincided with a period of increased volcanic activity in the nearby Southern Volcanic Zone, which resulted in decreased availability of carrion and deterred scavenging birds. After returning to the nest siteca650 yr BP, condor diet shifted from the carrion of native species and beached marine animals to the carrion of livestock (e.g. sheep and cattle) and exotic herbivores (e.g. red deer and European hare) introduced by European settlers. Currently, Andean Condors have elevated lead concentrations in their guano compared to the past, which is associated with human persecution linked to the shift in diet.