Emplastus
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Emplastus Temporal range: Late Eocene – Burdigalian |
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| An E. britannicus queen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Dolichoderinae |
| Genus: |
†Emplastus Donisthorpe, 1920 |
| Type species | |
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Emplastus britannicus |
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Emplastus is an extinct morphogenus of ants in the subfamily Dolichoderinae, known from fossils found in Asia and Europe. The genus contains twelve species described from sites in England, Eastern Europe and Far Eastern Russia.
Emplastus is known from a number of adult fossil specimens which are composed of partial adult males, female workers and queens. The first specimens described were preserved as compression fossils in sedimentary rock from the Radoboj area of what is now Croatia. The deposits are the result of sedimentation in an inland sea basin, possibly a shallow lagoon environment, during the Burdigalian of the Early Miocene. Along with the Emplastus species, a diverse assemblage of several hundred species of insects have been preserved in the sediments, along with fish and algae. The fossil impressions are preserved in micrite limestones, resulting in low quality preservation of fine details.
Another series of species were described from compression fossils found in thin layers and concretions of micrite from the "insect bed" and older stratum of the Bembridge Marls. The marls are exposed at a number of locations along the north coast of the Isle of Wight in England. Part of the Bouldnor Formation, the marls have been dated to the Late Eocene in age. The marls have not preserved any Symphya hymenopterans, suggesting that the paleotemperature of the marls was as warm or possibly warmer than either the Baltic amber or Florissant Formation forests, while the presence of the wasp family Scelionidae suggests generally mesic moisture conditions.
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