Iridomyrmex breviantennis

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Iridomyrmex breviantennis
Temporal range: Early Oligocene Kleinkems, Germany
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Tribe: Leptomyrmecini
Genus: Iridomyrmex
Species: I. breviantennis
Binomial name
Iridomyrmex breviantennis
Théobald, 1937

This is an impression fossil of a queen. There is so little morphological detail available that rigorous generic placement is nearly impossible. As such, and following Shattuck (1992), it is here left in Iridomyrmex but this placement is little more than speculation and it is considered incertae sedis in the genus.

Identification

Distribution

This taxon was described from Kleinkems, Germany (Early Oligocene).

Biology

Castes

Nomenclature

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

  • breviantennis. †Iridomyrmex breviantennis Théobald, 1937b: 209, pl. 4, figs. 5, 7; pl. 14, fig. 20 (q.) FRANCE (Oligocene). Provisionally retained in Iridomyrmex: Shattuck, 1992a: 15. Unidentifiable taxon, incertae sedis in Iridomyrmex: Heterick & Shattuck, 2011: 167.

Type Material

  • Holotype, queen, France (Oligocene).

Description

References

  • 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, provisionally retained in Iridomyrmex)
  • Theobald, N. 1937a. Les insectes fossiles des terrains oligocènes de France. Nancy: G. Thomas, 473 pp. (page 209, pl. 4, figs. 5, 7 pl. 14, fig. 20 queen described)