Terrestrial insect bioerosion and the possibilities of its fossilization (Holocene to recent,Czech republic)

Cylindrical tunnels, representing bee's nests, are present at and immediately beneath exposed surfaces of Late Cretaceous castellated sandstones in the Czech Republic. The tunnels originated either in weathered rock of overhanging surfaces, or in a thin layer of weathered sandstone formed between hard opaline crusts on rock surfaces and material not affected strongly by recent exogenic processes. Degraded rock crusts, which may bear parts of the biogenic structures, are present in sandy talus deposits usually representing all of the Holocene. Insect “borings” within lithified substrates in terrestrial settings are an unusual phenomenon; their fossilization potential in the Holocene sediments of the Bohemian castellated rocks may be relatively high.