Bradoponera
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Bradoponera Temporal range: Middle Eocene – Early Miocene |
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| B. meieri worker | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Tribe: | Proceratiini |
| Genus: |
†Bradoponera Mayr, 1868 |
| Type species | |
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Bradoponera meieri |
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| Species | |
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Bradoponera is an extinct genus of ant in the Formicidae subfamily Proceratiinae, and is one of four genera of the subfamily. The genus contains four described species Bradoponera electrina, Bradoponera meieri, Bradoponera similis, and Bradoponera wunderlichi. The species are known from several Middle Eocene amber fossils which were found in Europe.
Individuals of Bradoponera species have been found as inclusions in two different Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene amber deposits in Europe. The species B. electrina and B. wunderlichi are known from Baltic amber, while B. similis is known from Bitterfield amber only. The type species B. meieri is the most wide spread of the four species, with individuals identified from Baltic, Bitterfeld and Rovno ambers.
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 and areas of western Poland, is slightly younger in age, being dated between the Bartonian of the Late Eocene to possibly Early Oligocene.
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.
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