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Carebara kutscheri
| †Carebara kutscheri Temporal range: Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene Bitterfeld amber, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Crematogastrini |
| Genus: | Carebara |
| Species: | †C. kutscheri |
| Binomial name | |
| †Carebara kutscheri Radchenko, Dlussky & Gröhn, 2019 | |
Photo Gallery
Identification
Workers of C. kutscheri are very similar to those of Carebara antiqua in the structure of the body, including shape of the propodeal denticles and antennae, but they differ clearly from the latter by the much bigger eyes, by the completely smooth and shiny body and by the much less abundant hairs on the body and lack of hairs on the legs and antennal scape. Workers of C. kutscheri resemble Carebara nitida (Dlussky, 2002) in body sculpture, but differ by the much bigger eyes and the differently shaped propodeal denticles.
Based on characteristics of the soldier, this species might be placed in the former genus Pheidolegeton. No other soldier of fossil Carebara species was known till now. Nevertheless, soldiers of C. kutscheri differ clearly from the extant “Pheidologeton” soldiers in the head sculpture: its head dorsum is smooth, only the genae and the frontal lobes are with fine, regular, longitudinal rugulosity, whereas head of the extant species is quite coarsely longitudinally rugose, often with the transversal rugosity on the occiput.
Distribution
This taxon was described from Bitterfeld amber (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene).
Castes
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- †kutscheri. †Carebara kutscheri Radchenko, Dlussky & Gröhn, 2019: 610, figs. 1, 2 (s.w.) BITTERFELD AMBER (Germany, Eocene).
Type Material
- Holotype, worker (major), Saxony, Germany, Bitterfeld Amber (Eocene), Manfred Kutscher, GZG.BST.27.173, Geowissenschaftlicher Zentrum der Georg-August-Universitat Göttingen, Germany (collection of M. Kutscher).
- Paratype, 3 workers, Saxony, Germany, Bitterfeld Amber (Eocene), Manfred Kutscher, GZG.BST.27.173, Geowissenschaftlicher Zentrum der Georg-August-Universitat Göttingen, Germany (collection of M. Kutscher); same piece of amber as the holotype.
- Paratype, 2 workers, Saxony, Germany, Bitterfeld Amber (Eocene), Manfred Kutscher, GZG.BST.27.178, Geowissenschaftlicher Zentrum der Georg-August-Universitat Göttingen, Germany (collection of M. Kutscher).