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Afromyrma
| †Afromyrma Temporal range: Turonian, Late Cretaceous Orapa kimberlitic deposits, Botswana | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Genus: | †Afromyrma Dlussky, Brothers & Rasnitsyn, 2004 |
| Type species | |
| Afromyrma petrosa | |
| Diversity | |
| 1 fossil species (Species Checklist) | |
The single species in this genus is known from the late Cretaceous deposits in Orapa, Botswana. These fossils are approximately 91 million years old.
Identification
Description. – Head with clear occipital angles. Eye well developed. Mandible stout, triangular, with well developed chewing margin. Propodeum lacking spines or teeth. Waist distinctly two-segmented; petiole with weak node, distinctly narrowed anteriorly; postpetiole with convex sides, narrower than gaster.
Material examined. – Material from Orapa is housed in the Bernard Price Institute of Palaeontology (BPI) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and also in the National Museum of Botswana, Gaborone.
Distribution
This taxon is known from Orapa kimberlitic deposits, Botswana (Turonian, Late Cretaceous).
Castes
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- †AFROMYRMA [incertae sedis in Myrmicinae]
- †Afromyrma Dlussky, Brothers & Rasnitsyn, 2004: 9. Type-species: †Afromyrma petrosa, by original designation.
References
- Barden, P. 2017. Fossil ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): ancient diversity and the rise of modern lineages. Myrmecological News 24: 1-30.
- Cantone, S., Von Zuben, C.J. 2019. The hindwings of ants: A phylogenetic analysis. Psyche: A Journal of Entomology 2019, 1–11 (doi:10.1155/2019/7929717).
- Dlussky, G. M.; Brother, D. J.; Rasnitsyn, A. P. 2004. The first Late Cretaceous ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from southern Africa, with comments on the origin of the Myrmicinae. Insect Systematics & Evolution 35(1): 1-13 [1] (page 9, Aftromyrma incertae sedis in subfamily Myrmicinae)