Carebara rugiceps

†Carebara rugiceps Temporal range: Messinian, Late Miocene K Pa Eo Ol Mi Pl Oeningen, Switzerland
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Carebara
Species:	†C. rugiceps
Binomial name
†Carebara rugiceps (Heer, 1849)

Distribution

This taxon was described from Oeningen, Switzerland (Messinian, Late Miocene).

Nomenclature

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

• †rugiceps. †Myrmica rugiceps Heer, 1849: 160, pl. 13, fig. 2 (q.) GERMANY (Miocene).
  • [Also described as new by Heer, 1850: 160.]
  • Combination in Pheidologeton: Assmann, 1870: 40;
  • combination in *Paraphaenogaster: Dlussky & Putyatina, 2014: 271;
  • combination in Carebara: Fischer, et al. 2014: 72.
  • Status as species: Giebel, 1856: 179; Scudder, 1891: 719; Dalla Torre, 1893: 73; Handlirsch, 1907: 873; Bolton, 1995b: 333.

Taxonomic Notes

Radchenko et al. (2019): C. rugiceps were described based on the imprints and most of the important diagnostic generic features are barely visible, except the wings. However, forewing venation in Carebara gynes and males is very similar and often almost identical to those of some other Myrmicinae genera, e.g. Solenopsis, Lophomyrmex, some Aphaenogaster and Pheidole. As a result, a number of fossil species, including Myrmica rugiceps, were transferred from various genera to the morphogenus Paraphaenogaster (Dlussky and Perfilieva 2014; Dlussky and Putyatina 2014; Radchenko and Perkovsky 2016).

References

• Assmann, A. 1870. Beiträge zur Insekten-Fauna der Vorwelt. I. Beitrag. Die fossilen Insekten des tertiären (miocenen) Thonlagers von Schossnitz bei Kanth. Z. Entomol. (Breslau) (N.F.) 1: 33-58 (page 40, Combination in Pheidologeton)
• Fischer, G., Azorsa, F. & Fisher, B.L. 2014. The ant genus Carebara Westwood (Hymenoptera, Formicidae): synonymisation of Pheidologeton Mayr under Carebara, establishment and revision of the C. polita species group. ZooKeys 438: 57–112.
• Heer, O. 1849. Die Insektenfauna der Tertiärgebilde von Oeningen und von Radoboj in Croatien. Zweiter Theil: Heuschrecken, Florfliegen, Aderflüger, Schmetterlinge und Fliegen. Leipzig: W. Engelmann, vi + 264 pp. (page 160, pl. 13, fig. 2 queen described)
• Radchenko, A.G., Dlussky, G.M., Gröhn, C. 2019. New extinct species of the ant genus Carebara (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the late Eocene European ambers. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 69: 609-616 (doi:10.3161/00034541ANZ2019.69.3.010).