Eocamponotus mengei

†Eocamponotus mengei Temporal range: Bartonian, Middle to 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:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	Eocamponotus
Species:	†E. mengei
Binomial name
†Eocamponotus mengei (Mayr, 1868)
Synonyms
Camponotus igneus Mayr, 1868

Boudinot et al. (2024) note that †Eocamponotus mengei was described alongside †Eocamponotus igneus by Mayr (1868), and that the latter was accepted in a number of articles until Wheeler (1915) concluded that the latter is a subjective synonym of the former based on an examination of 103 Camponotus specimens and Mayr’s types of †E mengei. Wheeler reported that the type specimens of †E. igneus were in the collection of Franz Anton Menge, which is presumably in Gdańsk, Poland. The valid species was originally considered to be a Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) but was recently suggested by Radchenko and Perkovsky (2021) to be Camponotus (Camponotus) due particularly to the form of its clypeus, and the shapes of the head and mesosoma, without further specification. Reevaluation of the morphological affinities of this species is necessary.

Distribution

This taxon was described from Baltic amber, Baltic Sea region, Europe (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene) and is also known from Bitterfeld amber, Baltic Sea region, Europe (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene), Danish-Scandinavian amber (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene) and Rovno amber, Baltic Sea region, Europe (Priabonian, Late Eocene) (Perkovsky, 2016).

Nomenclature

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

• †mengei. †Camponotus mengei Mayr, 1868b: 27, pl. 1, figs. 1, 8 (w.) BALTIC AMBER (Eocene).
  • Status as species: Mayr, 1877: 20 (in list); Scudder, 1891: 692; Dalla Torre, 1893: 242; André, 1895b: 82 (in list); Handlirsch, 1907: 867; Wheeler, W.M. 1915h: 138; Théobald, 1937b: 217; Burnham, 1979: 115; Keilbach, 1982: 280; Bolton, 1995b: 111; Dlussky & Perkovsky, 2002: 11; Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2009: 1030; Perkovsky, 2016: 114.
  • Combination in Eocamponotus: Boudinot et al. (2024): 144.
  • Senior synonym of †igneus: Wheeler, W.M. 1915h: 138; Théobald, 1937b: 217; Bolton, 1995b: 111; Dlussky & Perkovsky, 2002: 11.
• †igneus. †Camponotus igneus Mayr, 1868b: 28, pl. 1, figs. 9, 10 (w.) BALTIC AMBER (Eocene).
  • Status as species: Scudder, 1891: 692; Dalla Torre, 1893: 235; André, 1895b: 82 (in list); Emery, 1905b: 189; Handlirsch, 1907: 867.
  • Junior synonym of †mengei: Wheeler, W.M. 1915h: 138; Théobald, 1937b: 217; Bolton, 1995b: 104; Dlussky & Perkovsky, 2002: 11.

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).
• Boudinot, B.E., Borowiec, M.L., Prebus, M.M. 2022. Phylogeny, evolution, and classification of the ant genus Lasius, the tribe Lasiini and the subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 47, 113-151 (doi:10.1111/syen.12522).
• Mayr, G. 1868c. Die Ameisen des baltischen Bernsteins. Beitr. Naturkd. Preuss. 1: 1-102 (page 27, pl. 1, figs. 1, 8 worker described)
• 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).
• Perkovsky, E.E. 2016. Tropical and Holoarctic ants in late Eocene ambers. Vestnik zoologii 50(2): 111–122 (doi:10.1515/vzoo-2016-0014).
• Radchenko, A.G. 2023. A New Ant Genus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Late Eocene Rovno Amber. Zoodiversity, 57(4), 323–336 (doi:10.15407/zoo2023.04.323).
• 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).
• Wheeler, W.M. 1915i. The ants of the Baltic Amber. Schriften der Physikalisch-Ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Königsberg 55: 1-142. (page 138, Senior synonym of igneus)