Ctenobethylus goepperti

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Ctenobethylus goepperti
Temporal range: Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene Baltic amber, Baltic Sea region
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Genus: Ctenobethylus
Species: C. goepperti
Binomial name
Ctenobethylus goepperti
(Mayr, 1868)
Synonyms

Identification

Distribution

This taxon was described from Baltic amber (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene) and is also known from Bitterfeld amber (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene) (Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2009; Perkovsky, 2018), Danish-Scandinavian amber (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene) (Perkovsky, 2016), Rovno amber (Priabonian, Late Eocene) (Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2009) and Belarus amber, near Kobryn, Belarus (Eocene) (see Iridomyrmex bogdassarovi).

Castes

Nomenclature

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

  • goepperti. †Hypoclinea goepperti Mayr, 1868c: 56, pl. 1, figs. 3-7; pl. 2, figs. 42-46 (w.q.m.) BALTIC AMBER (Eocene). Combination in Bothriomyrmex: Dalla Torre, 1893: 170; in Iridomyrmex: Wheeler, W.M. 1915h: 90; in Liometopum: Shattuck, 1992a: 15; in †Ctenobethylus: Dlussky, 1997: 58. Senior synonym of †succinalis: Brown, 1977: 214. See also: Dlussky & Perkovsky, 2002: 5.
  • succinalis. †Ctenobethylus succinalis Brues, 1939: 262, fig. 7 (w.) BALTIC AMBER (Eocene). Junior synonym of †goepperti: Brown, 1977: 214.
  • bogdassarovi. †Iridomyrmex bogdassarovi Nazaraú (= Nazarov), in Nazaraú, Bahdasaraú & Uriew, 1994: 106, fig. 2 (w.) BELARUS [in amber].
    • Combination in †Ctenobethylus: Dlussky & Perkovsky, 2002: 5.
    • Combination in Liometopum: Heterick & Shattuck, 2011: 171 (error?).
    • Junior synonym of †goepperti: Dlussky & Perkovsky, 2002: 5.

Taxonomic Notes

This relatively young fossil from the Quaternary period (present to 2.5mya) almost certainly belongs to the genus Liometopum rather than Iridomyrmex. The illustration of the front of the head (Nazarw et al., 1994, fig. 2a) is typical of modern Liometopum species, with small anteriorly placed eyes and a roughly cordate head capsule which is narrowed at the mandibles (although slightly more than modern species) (Del Toro et al., 2009). While the figure shows only a top view of the body, this is also consistent with general Liometopum morphology. Until a more detailed study of the actual specimen can be undertaken, Heterick and Shattuck (2011) suggested transferring this species from Iridomyrmex to Liometopum.

Description

References