Leptomyrmex neotropicus

†Leptomyrmex neotropicus Temporal range: Burdigalian, Early Miocene K Pa Eo Ol Mi Pl Dominican amber, Dominican Republic
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Leptomyrmecini
Genus:	Leptomyrmex
Species:	†L. neotropicus
Binomial name
†Leptomyrmex neotropicus Baroni Urbani, 1980

A species known from a Dominican amber fossil.

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Distribution

This taxon was described from Dominican amber, Dominican Republic (Burdigalian, Early Miocene).

Phylogeny

Leptomyrmex

Neotropical Leptomyrmex neotropicus (fossil only) Leptomyrmex relictus Australasian Micro‑Leptomyrmex Leptomyrmex burwelli Leptomyrmex dolichoscapus Macro‑Leptomyrmex Leptomyrmex mjobergi Leptomyrmex varians Leptomyrmex unicolor Leptomyrmex flavitarsus Leptomyrmex puberulus Leptomyrmex darlingtoni Leptomyrmex fragilis Leptomyrmex niger Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus Leptomyrmex wiburdi Leptomyrmex cnemidatus Leptomyrmex nigriventris Leptomyrmex tibialis Leptomyrmex geniculatus Leptomyrmex nigriceps Leptomyrmex pallens Leptomyrmex rufithorax Leptomyrmex rufipes Leptomyrmex rothneyi Leptomyrmex ruficeps

Based on Barden et al., 2017. Note only selected Leptomyrmex species are included.

Nomenclature

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

• †neotropicus. †Leptomyrmex neotropicus Baroni Urbani, 1980d: 4, figs. 1-5 (w.) DOMINICAN AMBER (Miocene). Combination in Camponotus: Wilson, 1985c: 34; in Leptomyrmex: Baroni Urbani & Wilson, 1987: 2. See also: Lucky & Ward, 2010: 62.

Type Material

• Holotype, worker, Dominican Amber (Miocene), Do-996-K-1, Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde Stuttgart; see Lucky and Ward (2010).
• Paratype, 9 workers, Dominican Amber (Miocene), Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde Stuttgart; in same amber fragment as holotype, see Lucky and Ward (2010).

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Lucky and Ward (2010) - Dominican Amber: 2 workers Philip S. Ward Collection, Museum of Comparative Zoology. These amber specimens resemble Leptomyrmex in the following characters: hypostomal notch present and u-shaped, scapes exceeding the postocular margin by approximately half their length, many teeth and denticles, integument thin and lacking sculpture, limbs long and slender, body overall gracile, elongate. These characters suggest an affinity with the extant Leptomyrmex species, but given the disjunct distribution of the fossils and the living species it is likely that L. neotropicus belongs to a stem lineage of this genus, a fact which should be taken into account when using the fossils for age calibrations in phylogenetic studies. The sister group of Leptomyrmex is a clade comprised of the two Neotropical genera, Forelius and Dorymyrmex, and it has been suggested that L. neotropicus might represent a stem species in the latter clade (Ward et al. 2010).

References

• Barden, P. 2017. Fossil ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): ancient diversity and the rise of modern lineages. Myrmecological News 24: 1-30.
• Barden, P., Boudinot, B., Lucky, A. 2017. Where Fossils Dare and Males Matter: combined morphological and molecular analysis untangles the evolutionary history of the spider ant genus Leptomyrmex Mayr (Hymenoptera : Dolichoderinae). Invertebrate Systematics, 31, 765–780 (DOI 10.1071/IS16067).
• Barden, P., Engel, M.S. 2020. Fossil social insects. Encyclopedia of Social Insects, Springer, Cham (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_45-1).
• Baroni Urbani, C. 1980d. The first fossil species of the Australian ant genus Leptomyrmex in amber from the Dominican Republic. (Amber Collection Stuttgart: Hymenoptera, Formicidae. III: Leptomyrmicini). Stuttg. Beitr. Naturkd. Ser. B (Geol. Paläontol.) 62: 1-10. (page 4, figs. 1-5 worker described)
• Baroni Urbani, C.; Wilson, E. O. 1987. The fossil members of the ant tribe Leptomyrmecini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 94: 1-8 (page 2, Combination in Leptomyrmex)
• Boudinot, B.E., Probst, R.S., Brandão, C.R.F., Feitosa, R.M. & Ward, P.S. 2016. Out of the Neotropics: newly discovered relictual species sheds light on the biogeographical history of spider ants (Leptomyrmex, Dolichoderinae, Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 41: 658-671 (doi:10.1111/syen.12181).
• Lucky, A. & Ward, P.S. 2010. Taxonomic revision of the ant genus Leptomyrmex Mayr. Zootaxa 2688: 1-67. PDF
• Wilson, E. O. 1985c. Ants of the Dominican amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). 3. The subfamily Dolichoderinae. Psyche (Camb.) 92: 17-37 (page 34, Combination in Camponotus)