Camponotites obesus

†Camponotites obesus Temporal range: Late Miocene K Pa Eo Ol Mi Pl Joursac, Auvergne, France
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Genus:	Camponotites
Species:	†C. obesus
Binomial name
†Camponotites obesus (Piton, 1935)

Boudinot et al. (2024) - These fossils could be considered unidentifiable to species, hence invalid, but are here treated as incertae sedis in Camponotus to highlight their existence. Critically, because of the lack of morphological information, it is possible that a number of these taxa belong to other genera of Camponotini (see Ward et al. (2016) and Ward & Boudinot (2021)). Reexamination of the original material is necessary in all cases (Boudinot et al. (2024), Note 11).

To prevent the uncritical usage of unidentifiable fossils attributed to Camponotus for macroevolutionary analysis, this species has been transferred to the form genus Camponotites. A form genus is a classificatory category used for fossils which are similar in appearance but cannot be reliably assigned to an established genus, in this case Camponotus. See Camponotites for further justification for this treatment. Until then, it is placed within Camponotites, noting that the taxa placed within this genus are unlikely to be closely related to each other.

Boudinot et al. (2024), Note 15 - This compression-fossil taxon is represented by fragments of the mesosoma, legs, and metasoma, all of which are preserved in a dorso-anterolateral oblique view. These remains are suggestive of Camponotus but otherwise cannot be identified meaningfully. Identification, in this case, is primarily driven by the rough similarity and absence of other ~14 mm long ants with an apparently rounded mesosoma in modern Western Europe.

Distribution

This taxon was described from Joursac, Auvergne, France (Late Miocene).

Nomenclature

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

• †obesus. †Camponotus obesus Piton, in Piton & Théobald, 1935: 68, pl. 2, fig. 5 (q.) FRANCE (Mio-Pliocene).
  • Status as species: Burnham, 1979: 116; Bolton, 1995b: 114.
  • Combination in Camponotites: Boudinot et al., 2024: 145.

References

• 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).
• Perfilieva, K.S. 2022. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from localities of the Russian Far East (Amgu, Velikaya Kema). Paleontological Journal, 56(4), 412–425 (doi:10.1134/s0031030122040086).
• Piton, L. & Théobald, N. 1935. La faune entomologique des gisements Mio-Pliocènes du Massif Central. Revue des Sciences Naturelles d'Auvergne (N.S.) 1: 65-104 (Formicidae pp. 68-69).