Azteca alpha

†Azteca alpha Temporal range: Burdigalian, Early Miocene K Pa Eo Ol Mi Pl Dominican amber, Dominican Republic
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Leptomyrmecini
Genus:	Azteca
Species:	†A. alpha
Binomial name
†Azteca alpha Wilson, 1985

Photo Gallery

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  Three dauer juveniles of the nematode Formicodiplogaster myrmenema adjacent to a worker of Azteca alpha in Dominican amber (Poinar, 2012, Fig. 23).
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  Detail of a dauer juvenile of Formicodiplogaster myrmenema adjacent to a worker of Azteca alpha in Dominican amber (Poinar, 2012, Fig. 24).

Distribution

This taxon was described from Dominican amber, Dominican Republic (Burdigalian, Early Miocene).

Biology

This species is a host for the nematode Formicodiplogaster myrmenema (a parasite) in Dominican amber (Poinar, 2011) (Dominican amber).

Nomenclature

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

• †alpha. †Azteca alpha Wilson, 1985c: 58, figs. 5-8 (w.q.m.) DOMINICAN AMBER (Dominican Republic, Miocene).
  • Status as species: Brandão, 1991: 329; Shattuck, 1994: 12; Bolton, 1995b: 78.

Holotype: Museum of Comparative Zoology, without number.

References

• Barden, P. 2017. Fossil ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): ancient diversity and the rise of modern lineages. Myrmecological News 24: 1-30.
• Barden, P., Engel, M.S. 2020. Fossil social insects. Encyclopedia of Social Insects, Springer, Cham (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_45-1).
• Bolton, B. 1995b. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp. (page 78, catalogue)
• Poinar, G. 2011. The Evolutionary History of Nematodes, Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands.
• Varela-Hernández, F., Riquelme, F., Guerrero, R. 2023. A Miocene ant species of the genus Forelius Emery, 1888 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) from Mexico. Palaeontologia Electronica 26(3):a36 (doi:10.26879/1294).
• Wilson, E. O. 1985c. Ants of the Dominican amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). 3. The subfamily Dolichoderinae. Psyche (Camb.) 92: 17-37 (page 213, 215, figs. 5-8 worker, queen, male described)