Eldermyrmex

Eldermyrmex oblongiceps
Temporal range: Middle to Late Eocene

Baltic amber

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Genus: Eldermyrmex
Shattuck, 2011
Species: E. oblongiceps
Binomial name
Eldermyrmex oblongiceps
(Wheeler, W.M., 1915)

Eldermyrmex is an extinct genus of ant in the Formicidae subfamily Dolichoderinae. The genus contains a single described species Eldermyrmex oblongiceps. Eldermyrmex is known to be from the Baltic Amber.[1]

Classification

William Morton Wheeler first made mention of the fossil he described in 1915, but he did not establish the Eldermyrmex genus, as he commented that the ant did not have the appearance of a typical Iridomyrmex, so he did not know where to assign the newly found ant.[2] Because of its appearance, it was obvious the ant did not belong to the Iridomyrmex genus, and so it was transferred to a new genus in 2011.[3]

References

  1. Dlussky, G.M. 1997. Genera of ants from Baltic Amber. Paleontological Journal, 31(6), pp. 616–627.
  2. Wheeler, William Morton (1915). "The ants of the Baltic amber". Leipzig :B.G. Teubner,1914. 55: 1–142. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.14207. OCLC 30805083.
  3. Shattuck, Brian E. Heterick & Steve (2011). Revision of the ant genus Iridomyrmex (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) (PDF). Auckland, N.Z.: Magnolia Press. ISBN 978-1-86977-676-3. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
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