Britaneuretus

†Britaneuretus; Temporal range: Priabonian, Late Eocene K Pa Eo Ol Mi Pl ↓ Bembridge Marls, Isle of Wight, UK
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Aneuretinae
Tribe:	Aneuretini
Genus:	†Britaneuretus; Dlussky & Perfilieva, 2014
Type species
	Dolichoderus anglicus, now Britaneuretus anglicus;
Diversity
	1 fossil species; (Species Checklist)

Identification

Female. Propodeum with a pair of short, obtuse teeth. Petiole elongate, without scale or distinct node. Forewing with cells 1þ2r, rm, mcu and most likely 3r closed. 1RS and 2r–rs vertical to R. Cell mcu medium sized (visually about half area of cell 1þ2r or little less), far distant of pterostigmal base level. Icu > 1.5, Icua > 1.2. Gaster oval, without constriction between first and second segments.

Remarks. Differs from Cananeuretus Engel & Grimaldi, 2005 from the Upper Cretaceous Canadian amber, Protaneuretus Wheeler, 1915 and Paraneuretus Wheeler, 1915 from the Late Eocene Baltic amber, Mianeuretus Carpenter, 1930 from the Middle and latest Eocene of North America, and from extant Aneuretus Emery, 1893 by absence of petiolar node. Protaneuretus and Cananeuretus have no propodeal teeth. Aneuretellus Dlussky, 1988 from the Palaeocene Sakhalin amber has no petiolar node but, unlike the new genus, has no propodeal teeth. The only known species Aneuretellus deformis is of very small size (body length about 3 mm, mesosoma length 0.88 mm).

Although no sting is visible in the fossil, a combination of petiole form and features of forewing venation indicate position of the new genus in Aneuretinae with sufficient confidence.

Distribution

This taxon is known from Bembridge Marls, Isle of Wight, UK (Priabonian, Late Eocene).

Castes

Nomenclature

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

†BRITANEURETUS [Aneuretinae]
- †Britaneuretus Dlussky & Perfilieva, 2014: 78. Type-species: †Dolichoderus anglicus, by original designation.

References