Cataglyphoides constrictus

†Cataglyphoides constrictus Temporal range: Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene K Pa Eo Ol Mi Pl Baltic amber, Baltic Sea region
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Formicini
Genus:	Cataglyphoides
Species:	†C. constrictus
Binomial name
†Cataglyphoides constrictus (Mayr, 1868)

Distribution

This taxon was described from Baltic amber, Baltic Sea region, Europe (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene) and is known from Rovno amber, Baltic Sea region, Europe (Priabonian, Late Eocene).

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

• †constrictus. †Camponotus constrictus Mayr, 1868b: 29, pl. 1, fig. 11 (w.) BALTIC AMBER (Eocene).
  • Combination in Formica: Wheeler, W.M. 1915h: 128;
  • combination in Cataglyphis: Dlussky, 1967b: 85;
  • combination in *Cataglyphoides: Dlussky, 2008a: 46.
  • Status as species: Scudder, 1891: 692; Dalla Torre, 1893: 226; André, 1895b: 82 (in list); Handlirsch, 1907: 867; Wheeler, W.M. 1915h: 128; Dlussky, 1967b: 85; Burnham, 1979: 115; Keilbach, 1982: 281; Bolton, 1995b: 135; Dlussky, 2008a: 46 (redescription); Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2009: 1030; Perkovsky, 2016: 114; Radchenko & Khomych, 2020: 158.

Radchenko and Khomych (2020)

Mayr (1868) described C. constrictus based on five workers, but Wheeler (1915) supposed that one of them probably belongs to the genus Pseudolasius Emery, 1887 and named this specimen P. seltatus , although this name is nomen nudum. Andre (1895) recorded two more specimens, and Wheeler (1915) investigated 12 additional workers of this species. Dlussky (2008) re-examined two of the Mayr’s type specimens and designated one of them as the lectotype, as well as 10 workers, part of which were previously identified by Wheeler as C. constrictus. Thus, 18 specimens of this species were known until now.

We investigated one worker from the Baltic amber from the collection of Mr. Carsten Gröhn, which was determined by Dlussky in 2013 as C. constrictus, and confirm this identification. It seems the first new finding of this species in more than 100 years.

Type Material

Holotype worker, Baltic amber, Priabonian stage, 33.9–37.8 Ma, collection of Mr. Carsten Gröhn No. F-6572.

References

• Mayr, G. 1868c. Die Ameisen des baltischen Bernsteins. Beiträge zur Naturkunde Preussens. Königlichen Physikalisch-Ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg 1: 1-102. [(31.xii).1868.]
• Radchenko, A.G., Khomych, M.R. 2020. Ants of the extinct genus Cataglyphoides Dlussky, 2008 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) from the late Eocene European ambers. Invertebrate Zoology 17(2): 154–161 (doi:10.15298/invertzool.17*Radchenko, A.G., Perkovsky, E.E. 2020. New finds of the fossil ant genus Prionomyrmex Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmeciinae) in Late Eocene European amber. Paleontological Journal 54, 617–626 (doi:[https://doi.org/10.1134%2Fs0031030120060088 10.1134/s0031030120060088).
• Tinaut, A., Ruano, F. 2021. Biogeography of Iberian ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Diversity 13, 88. (doi:10.3390/d13020088).

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