Pseudocamponotus

†Pseudocamponotus; Temporal range: Miocene K Pa Eo Ol Mi Pl Elko, Nevada, United States
	Pseudocamponotus elkoanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	†Pseudocamponotus; Carpenter, 1930
Type species
	Pseudocamponotus elkoanus;
Diversity
	1 fossil species; (Species Checklist)

Boudinot et al. (2024), Note 5 - The monotypic genera †Chimaeromyrma and †Pseudocamponotus have been treated as incertae sedis in Camponotini, for which we see no specific morphological evidence to question these otherwise harmless placements. For †Pseudocamponotus elkoanus, we doubt that this fossil will ever be identifiable given the lack of wing venation and very limited preservation of the single known specimen. Given that there is insufficient preservation to confidently place the species to tribe, we consider it to be unidentifiable, hence invalid. We do not synonymize †Pseudocamponotus with †Camponotites, however, as the former would take priority and we prefer the latter name as the form genus, given that it has the proper suffix (-tites) to indicate paleontological uncertainty.

Identification

Eyes and antennal insertions farther forward on the head; antennae consisting of 12 segments in the female.

Distribution

This taxon is known from Elko, Nevada, United States (Miocene).

Castes

Queen

Nomenclature

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

†PSEUDOCAMPONOTUS [Formicinae: Camponotini]
- †Pseudocamponotus Carpenter, 1930: 22. Type-species: †Pseudocamponotus elkoanus, by original designation.

References

Barden, P. 2017. Fossil ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): ancient diversity and the rise of modern lineages. Myrmecological News 24: 1-30.
Blaimer, B.B., Brady, S.G., Schultz, T.R., Lloyd, M.W., Fisher, B.L., & Ward, P.S. 2015. Phylogenomic methods outperform traditional multi-locus approaches in resolving deep evolutionary history: a case study of formicine ants. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 15:271 (DOI 10.1186/s12862-015-0552-5).
Bolton, B. 1994. Identification guide to the ant genera of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 222 pp. (page 50, Pseudocamponotus in Formicinae, Camponotini)
Bolton, B. 1995b. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp. (page 369, Pseudocamponotus in Formicinae, Camponotini)
Bolton, B. 2003. Synopsis and Classification of Formicidae. Mem. Am. Entomol. Inst. 71: 370pp (page 125, Pseudocamponotus in Formicinae, Camponotini)
Boudinot, B.E., Bock, B.L., Weingardt, M., Tröger, D., Batelka, J., LI, D., Richter, A., Pohl, H., Moosdorf, O.T.D., Jandausch, K., Hammel, J.U., Beutel, R. G. 2024. Et latet et lucet: Discoveries from the Phyletisches Museum amber and copal collection in Jena, Germany. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 711, 111–176 (doi:10.3897/dez.71.112433).
Carpenter, F. M. 1930. The fossil ants of North America. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 70: 1-66 (page 22, Pseudocamponotus as genus; Pseudocamponotus in Formicinae, Camponotini)
Dlussky, G. M.; Fedoseeva, E. B. 1988. Origin and early stages of evolution in ants. Pp. 70-144 in: Ponomarenko, A. G. (ed.) Cretaceous biocenotic crisis and insect evolution. Moskva: Nauka, 232 pp. (page 77, Pseudocamponotus in Formicinae, Camponotini)
Ward, P.S., Blaimer, B.B., Fisher, B.L. 2016. A revised phylogenetic classification of the ant subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with resurrection of the genera Colobopsis and Dinomyrmex. Zootaxa 4072 (3): 343–357 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4072.3.4).