Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:39:07.446Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The ants of the genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Baltic and Saxonian amber (Late Eocene)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Alexander Radchenko ,
Gennady Dlussky  and
Graham W. Elmes
Alexander Radchenko
Affiliation:
Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 64, Wilcza str., 00-679, Warsaw,
Gennady Dlussky
Affiliation:
Moscow State University, Vorob'evy gory, 119899, Moscow, Russia,
Graham W. Elmes
Affiliation:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX 10 888, United Kingdom,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the course of ongoing revision of the ant genus Myrmica Latreille, 1804, we located, in the collections of the Russian and Polish Academies of Sciences, pieces of Baltic Amber (Late Eocene, ca. 40 Ma; earlier this amber was considered to be Oligocene, e.g., see Wheeler, 1915; Larsson, 1978; Bolton, 1995; Dlussky, 1997), that each contained a fossilized specimen of Myrmica. We were also fortunate to be given access to a piece of Saxonian Amber (the same age as Baltic Amber) from the collection of Manfred Kutscher that contained three specimens of Myrmica. Four of the specimens belong to two new species. We describe these below, placing them in context with extant species, and we re-appraise all previously described fossil Myrmica, providing a key to the identification of the five extinct “true” Myrmica species.

Type
Paleontological Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 81 , Issue 6 , November 2007 , pp. 1494 - 1501
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

André, E. 1895. Notice sur les fourmis fossiles de l'ambre de la Baltique. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France, 20:80–84.Google Scholar
Assmann, A. 1970. Beiträge zur Insekten-Fauna der Vorwelt. I. Beitrag. Die fossilen Insekten des tertiären (miocene) Thonlagers von Schossnitz bei Kanth. Zeitschrift für Entomologie (N. F.), 1:33–58.Google Scholar
Bolton, B. 1988a. A new socially parasitic Myrmica, with a reassessment of the genus. Systematic Entomology, 13:1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolton, B. 1988b. Secostruma, a new subterranean tetramoriine ant genus. Systematic Entomology, 13:263–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolton, B. 1995. A new general catalogue of the ants of the World. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 504 p.Google Scholar
Bolton, B. 2003. Synopsis and classification of Formicidae. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 71:1–370.Google Scholar
Dalla Torre, C. G. 1893. Catalogus Hymenopterorum, hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus, 7. Lipsiae, 289 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dlussky, G. M. 1981. Miocene ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), p. 64–83. In Vyshniakova, V. N., Dlussky, G. M., and Pritykina, L. N. (eds.), New fossil insects from the territory of the U.S.S.R. Izdatelstvo Nauka, Moscow. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Dlussky, G. M. 1983. New family of the Late Cretaceous hymenopterans insects—an “intermediate link” between ants and scolioid wasps. Paleontologichesky Zhurnal, 17(3):65–78. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Dlussky, G. M. 1997. Genera of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Baltic Amber. Paleontologichesky Zhurnal, 31(6):50–62. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Dlussky, G. M. and Fedoseeva, E. B. 1988. Origin and early stages of the evolution of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), 70–144. In Ponomarenko, A. G. (ed.), Melovoi biocenoticheskii krizis i rannie etapy evolyucii nasekomyh. Izdatelstvo Nauka, Moscow. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Dlussky, G. M. and Radchenko, A. 2006. New ant genus from the Late Eocene European Amber. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 51(3):561–567.Google Scholar
Elmes, G. W. and Radchenko, A. 1998. Ants of the genus Myrmica from Taiwan (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Chinese Journal of Entomology, 18:217–224.Google Scholar
Elmes, G. W., Radchenko, A., and Aktaç, N. 2002. Four new Myrmica species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Turkey. Annales Zoologici, 52:157–171.Google Scholar
Emery, C. 1889. Formiche di Birmania e del Tenasserim, raccolte da Leonardo Fea (1885-87). Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Ser. 2 a, 7[27]:485–520.Google Scholar
Emery, C. 1899. Formiche di Madagascar raccolte dal Sig. A. Mocquerys nei pressi della Baia di Antogil (1897-1898). Bulletino della Società Entomologica Italiana, 31:263–290.Google Scholar
Förster, A. 1850. Eine Centurie neuer Hymenopteren. Zweite Dekade. Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereines der Preussischen Rheinlande und Westphalens, 7:485–500.Google Scholar
Forel, A. 1890. Fourmis de Tunisie et de l'Algérie orientale récoltées et décrites par Auguste Forel. Annales de al Société Entomologique de Belgique. Compte-rendus, 34:61–76.Google Scholar
Forel, A. 1912. Formicides Néotropiques, Pt. 4, 3me sous-famille Myrmicinae Lep. (suite). Mémoires de la Société Entomologique de Belgique, 20:1–32.Google Scholar
Handlirsch, A. 1907. Die fossilen Insekten und die Phylogenie der rezenten Formen. Ein Handbuch für Paläontologen und Zoologen. Lieferung 6. Leipzig, p. 801–960.Google Scholar
Heer, O. 1850 (1849). Die Insektenfauna der Tertiärgebilde von Oenigen und Radoboj in Croatien. Zweite Abtheilung. Neue Denkschriften der allgemeinen Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die gesammten Naturwissenschaften (1), 11:1–264.Google Scholar
Heer, O. 1867. Fossile Hymenopteren aus Oenigen und Radoboj. Neue Denkschriften der allgemeinen Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die gesammten Naturwissenschaften (4), 22:1–42.Google Scholar
Jurine, L. 1807. Nouvelle Méthode de Classer les Hyménoptères et les Diptères. Hyménoptères. Geneve, 319 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kupyanskaya, A. N. 1990. The ants of the Far East. Izdatelstvo DVO AN SSSR, Vladivostok, 258 p. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Larsson, S. G. 1978. Baltic Amber—a Palaeobiological study. Entomonograph, 1. Scandinavian Science Press Ltd., Klampenborg, 192 p.Google ScholarPubMed
Latreille, P. A. 1804. Tableau méthodique des insectes. Classe huitième. Insectes, Insecta. Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, 24:129–200.Google Scholar
Latreille, P. A. 1809. Genera Crusaceorum et Insectorum secundum ordinem naturalem in familias disposita, iconibus, exemplisque plurimis explicata. 4. Parisis et Argentorati, 399 p.Google Scholar
Latreille, P. A. 1810. Considération générales sur l'orde natural des animaux composant les classes des Crustacés, des Arachnides, et des Insectes; avec un tableau méthodique de leur genres, disposés en famille. Paris, 444 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae. Editio 10. 1. Holmiae, 823 p.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. 1853. Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Ameisen. Verhandlungen des Zoologisch-Botanischen Vereins in Wien, 3:110–114.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. 1855. Formicina austriaca. Verhandlungen des Zoologisch-Botanischen Vereins in Wien, 5:273–478.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. 1861. Die Europaischen Formiciden (Ameisen). Wien, 80 p.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. 1867. Vorläufige Studien über die Radoboj-Formiciden, in der Sammlung der k.k geologischen Reichsanstalt. Jahrbuch der K. K. Geologischen Reichsanatalt, 17:47–62.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. 1868a. Formicidae novae americanae collectae a Prof. P. de Strobel. Annuario della Società dei Naturalisti Modena, 3:161–178.Google Scholar
Mayr, G. 1868b. Die Ameisen des baltichen Bernsteins. Beiträge zur Naturkunde Preussens. Königlichen Physikalisch-Ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg, 1:1–102.Google Scholar
Meunier, F. 1915. Über einige fossile Insecten aus den Braunkohlenschichten (Aquitanien) von Rott (Siebengebirge). Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft A. Abhandlungen, 67:205–217.Google Scholar
Moreau, C. S., Bell, C. D., Vila, R., Archibald, S. B., and Pierce, N. E. 2006. Phylogeny of the ants: diversification in the age of angiosperms. Science, 312:101–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Novak, O. 1878. Fauna der Cyprisschiefer des Egerer Tertiärbeckens. Sitzungberichte der k. Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe, 76:71–96.Google Scholar
Ponomarenko, A. G. and Schultz, O. 1988. Typen der Geologisch-Paläontologischen Abteilung: Fossile Insekten. Kataloge der Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, 6(1):5–39.Google Scholar
Radchenko, A. G. 1994. Taxonomic structure of the genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Eurasia. Communication 1. Zoologichesky Zhurnal, 73(6):39–51. (In Russian; English translation: Entomological Review (Washington), 1995, 74:91-106).Google Scholar
Radchenko, A. G. and Elmes, G. W. 1998. Taxonomic revision of the ritae species-group of the genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Vestnik Zoologii, 32(4):3–27.Google Scholar
Radchenko, A. G. and Elmes, G. W. 1999. Ten new species of Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Himalaya. Vestnik Zoologii, 33(3):27–46.Google Scholar
Radchenko, A. and Elmes, G. W. 2001a. First record of the genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Northern Vietnam, with a description of two new species. Annales Zoologici, 51:221–225.Google Scholar
Radchenko, A. and Elmes, G. W. 2001b. Taxonomic revision of the Himalayan Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Entomologica Basiliensia, 23:237–276.Google Scholar
Radchenko, A. and Elmes, G. W. 2003. A taxonomic revision of the socially parasitic Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Palaearctic Region. Annales Zoologici, 53:217–243.Google Scholar
Radchenko, A. G., Zhou, S., and Elmes, G. W. 2001. New and rare Myrmica species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Southern China. Annales Zoologici, 51:211–219.Google Scholar
Roger, J. 1863. Die neu aufgeführten Gattungen und Arten meines Formiciden-Verzeichnisses, nebst Ergänzung einiger früher gegeben Beschreibungen. Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift, 7:31–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Théobald, N. 1937. Les insectes fossiles des terrain oligocènes de France. Nancy, 473 p.Google Scholar
Weber, N. A. 1950. A revision of the North American ants of the genus Myrmica Latreille with a synopsis of the Palaearctic species. III. Annales of the Entomological Society of America, 43:189–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wesmael, C. 1838. Sur une nouvelle espèce de fourmi du Mexique. Bulletins de l'Academie Royale des Sciences et Belles-Lettres de Bruxelles, 5:766–771.Google Scholar
Wheeler, W. M.1915 (1914). The ants of the Baltic Amber. Schriften der Physikalisch-ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg, 55:1–142.Google Scholar
Zhang, J. F. 1989. Fossil Insects from Shanwang, Shandong, China. Shandong Science and Technology Publishing House, Junnan, China, 459 p.Google Scholar