Anonychomyrma constricta
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Yantaromyrmex Temporal range: Middle Eocene – Late Oligocene |
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| Y. geinitzi worker | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Dolichoderinae |
| Genus: |
†Yantaromyrmex Dlussky & Dubovikoff, 2013 |
| Type species | |
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Yantaromyrmex geinitzi |
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| Species | |
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Yantaromyrmex is an extinct genus of ants first described in 2013. Members of this genus are in the subfamily Dolichoderinae of the family Formicidae, known from Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene fossils found in Europe. The genus currently contains five described species, Y. constrictus, Y. geinitzi, Y. intermedius, Y. mayrianum and Y. samlandicus. The first specimens were collected in 1868 and studied by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr, who originally placed the fossils in other ant genera until the fossils were reviewed and subsequently placed into their own genus. These ants are small, measuring from 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in) in length and can be characterized by their trapazoidal shaped head-capsules and oval compound eyes that are located slightly to the rear of the capsules midpoint, with no known ocelli present.
Individuals of Yantaromyrmex species have been found as inclusions in four different Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene amber deposits in Europe.Baltic amber is approximately 46 million years old, having been deposited during the Lutetian stage of the Middle Eocene. There is debate on what plant family the amber was produced by, with evidence supporting them being relatives of either Agathis or Pseudolarix.Rovno amber, recovered from deposits in the Rivne region of Ukraine, is slightly younger in age, being dated to the Bartonian to Priabonian of the Late Eocene.Bitterfeld amber is recovered from coal deposits in the Saxony area of Germany and the dating of the deposits is uncertain. Bitterfeld represents a section of the Eocene Paratethys Sea, and the amber that is recovered from the region is thought to be redeposited from older sediments. The fossil record of Bitterfeld and Baltic amber insects is very similar with a number of shared species, and that similarity is noted in the suggestions of a single source for the paleoforest that produced the amber. The amber deposits on the Danish coast, often referred to as Scandinavian amber, is of similar age to the other three European ambers, however a study of the ant fauna publushed in 2009 indicates Scandinavian amber has a fairly distinct ant assemblage.Y. constricta and Y. geinitzi are both identified from all four European ambers, while Y. samlandicus has been described from Baltic, Bitterfeld and Rovno fossils. Y. intermedius and Y. mayrianum, are each known from only a few fossils, Y. intermedius from only a single Bitterfeld amber fossil while Y. mayrianum is known from a Baltic amber and a Rovno amber fossil.
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Wikipedia