Ctenobethylus goepperti

†Ctenobethylus goepperti Temporal range: Priabonian, Late Eocene K Pa Eo Ol Mi Pl Baltic amber, Baltic Sea region
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Genus:	Ctenobethylus
Species:	†C. goepperti
Binomial name
†Ctenobethylus goepperti (Mayr, 1868)
Synonyms
Ctenobethylus succinalis Brues, 1939 Iridomyrmex bogdassarovi Nazaraw, Bagdasaraw & Uriew, 1994

Distribution

This taxon was described from Baltic amber, Baltic Sea region, Europe (Priabonian, Late Eocene) and is also known from Bitterfeld amber, Baltic Sea region, Europe (Priabonian, Late Eocene) (Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2009; Perkovsky, 2018), Danish-Scandinavian amber (Priabonian, Late Eocene) (Perkovsky, 2016), Rovno amber, Baltic Sea region, Europe (Priabonian, Late Eocene) (Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2009) and Belarus amber, near Kobryn, Belarus (Eocene) (see Iridomyrmex bogdassarovi).

Nomenclature

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

• †goepperti. †Hypoclinea goepperti Mayr, 1868b: 56, pl. 1, figs. 3-7; pl. 2, figs. 42-46 (w.q.m.) BALTIC AMBER (Eocene).
  • Combination in Bothriomyrmex: Emery, in Dalla Torre, 1893: 170;
  • combination in Iridomyrmex: Wheeler, W.M. 1915h: 90;
  • combination in Liometopum: Shattuck, 1992a: 15;
  • combination in *Ctenobethylus: Dlussky, 1997: 58.
  • Status as species: Scudder, 1891: 710; Dalla Torre, 1893: 170; André, 1895b: 82 (in list); Handlirsch, 1907: 871; Wheeler, W.M. 1915h: 90; Théobald, 1937b: 208; Brown, 1977: 214; Burnham, 1979: 112; Keilbach, 1982: 278; Shattuck, 1994: 128; Bolton, 1995b: 247; Dlussky, 1997: 58; Dlussky & Perkovsky, 2002: 5; Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2009: 1029; Heterick & Shattuck, 2011: 169; Dubovikoff, 2012: 170; Perkovsky, 2016: 113; Barden, 2017: 19.
  • Senior synonym of bogdassarovi: Dlussky & Perkovsky, 2002: 5.
  • Senior synonym of *succinalis: Brown, 1977: 214; Shattuck, 1994: 128; Dlussky & Perkovsky, 2002: 5.

Taxonomic Notes

This relatively young fossil from the Quaternary period (present to 2.5mya) almost certainly belongs to the genus Liometopum rather than Iridomyrmex. The illustration of the front of the head (Nazarw et al., 1994, fig. 2a) is typical of modern Liometopum species, with small anteriorly placed eyes and a roughly cordate head capsule which is narrowed at the mandibles (although slightly more than modern species) (Del Toro et al., 2009). While the figure shows only a top view of the body, this is also consistent with general Liometopum morphology. Until a more detailed study of the actual specimen can be undertaken, Heterick and Shattuck (2011) suggested transferring this species from Iridomyrmex to Liometopum.

References

• Barden, P. 2017. Fossil ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): ancient diversity and the rise of modern lineages. Myrmecological News 24: 1-30.
• Brown, W. L., Jr. 1977 [1976]. Ctenobethylus (Bethylidae) a new synonym of Iridomyrmex (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). Psyche (Camb.) 83: 213-215 (page 214, Senior synonym of succinalis)
• Dalla Torre, K. W. von. 1893. Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. Vol. 7. Formicidae (Heterogyna). Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 289 pp. (page 170, Combination in Bothriomyrmex)
• Dlussky, G. M. 1997b. Genera of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Baltic amber. Paleontol. Zh. 31: 616-627 (page 623, Combination in Ctenobethylus)
• Dlussky, G. M., Rasnitsyn, A. P. 2009. Ants (Insecta: Vespida: Formicidae) in the Upper Eocene amber of Europe. Paleontological Journal, 43 (9), 1024–1042 (DOI 10.1134/S0031030109090056).
• Dlussky, G. M.; Perkovsky, E.E. 2002. Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Rovno amber. Vestnik Zoologii 36(5): 3-20, 99 (page 5, see also)
• Dlussky, G.M. & Putyatina, T.S. 2014. Early Miocene ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Radoboj, Croatia. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen 272, 237-285.
• Dunlop JA, Kontschan J, Walter DE, Perrichot V. 2014. An ant-associated mesostigmatid mite in Baltic amber. Biol. Lett. 10: 20140531 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0531).
• Mayr, G. 1868c. Die Ameisen des baltischen Bernsteins. Beitr. Naturkd. Preuss. 1: 1-102 (page 56, pl. 1, figs. 3-7; pl.2, figs. 42-46 worker, queen , male described)
• Perkovsky, E.E. 2016. Tropical and Holoarctic ants in late Eocene ambers. Vestnik zoologii 50(2): 111–122 (doi:10.1515/vzoo-2016-0014).
• Perkovsky, E.E. 2018. Only half of Rovno amber hymenopteran fauna is common with Baltic amber. Vestnik Zoologii 52:353-360 (DOI 10.2478/vzoo-2018-0037).
• Radchenko, A. 2023. A new extinct ant genus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Baltic Amber. Annales Zoologici 73(1), 41-49 (doi:10.3161/00034541anz2023.73.1.004).
• Radchenko, A.G., Perkovsky, E.E., Vasilenko, D.V. 2021. Formica species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Formicinae) in late Eocene Rovno amber. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 82, 237–251 (doi:10.3897/jhr.82.64599).
• Shattuck, S. O. 1992a. Review of the dolichoderine ant genus Iridomyrmex Mayr with descriptions of three new genera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Aust. Entomol. Soc. 31: 13-18 (page 15, Combination in Liometopum)
• Wheeler, W.M. 1915i. The ants of the Baltic Amber. Schriften der Physikalisch-Ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg 55: 1-142. (page 90, Combination in Iridomyrmex)