Prionomyrmex
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Prionomyrmex Temporal range: Eocene to Late Oligocene, 56-29 Ma |
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| P. longiceps | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmeciinae |
| Tribe: | †Prionomyrmecini |
| Genus: |
†Prionomyrmex Mayr, 1868 |
| Type species | |
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Prionomyrmex longiceps |
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| Species | |
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| External identifiers for Prionomyrmex | |
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| Encyclopedia of Life | 60195 |
Prionomyrmex is an extinct genus of bulldog ants in the subfamily Myrmeciinae of the family Formicidae. It was first described by Gustav Mayr in 1868, after he collected a holotype worker of P. longiceps in Baltic amber. Three species are currently described, characterised by their long mandibles, slender bodies and large size. These ants are known from the Eocene and Late Oligocene, with fossil specimens only found around Europe. It is suggested that these ants preferred to live in jungles, with one species assumed to be an arboreal nesting species. These ants had a powerful stinger that was used to subdue prey. In 2000, it was suggested by Cesare Baroni Urbani that the living species Nothomyrmecia macrops and a species he described both belonged to Prionomyrmex, but this proposal has not been widely accepted by the entomological community. Instead, scientists still classify the two genera distinctive from each other, making Nothomyrmecia a valid genus.
The holotype worker for P. longiceps was collected by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr in 1868. The fossil, which was preserved in Baltic amber from the Eocene, was formally described in Mayr's journal article Die Ameisen des baltischen Bernsteins, designating it as the type species by monotypy (the condition of a taxonomic group having only a single taxon described) for the newly established genus Prionomyrmex. Originally, the genus was placed in the subfamily Ponerinae by Mayr, but in 1877, Italian entomologist Carlo Emery classified the genus into the subfamily Myrmeciidae (now known as Myrmeciinae), the same year Emery established the subfamily. In 1915, the tribe Prionomyrmecini was erected by American entomologist William Morton Wheeler, who had placed Prionomyrmex in it. In that year, Wheeler placed the genus back into Ponerinae without any means of justifying his decision. British myrmecologist Horace Donisthorpe would also retain the genus in Ponerinae without explanation, but William Brown Jr. would return it to Myrmeciinae in 1954.
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