Protoformica

†Protoformica; 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:	Formicini
Genus:	†Protoformica; Dlussky, 1967
Type species
	Formica (Protoformica) proformicoides, now Protoformica proformicoides;
Diversity
	1 fossil species; (Species Checklist)

Identification

Distribution

This taxon is known from Baltic amber (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene) and Danish-Scandinavian amber (Bartonian, Middle to Late Eocene).

Castes

Nomenclature

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

†PROTOFORMICA [Formicinae: Formicini]
- †Protoformica Dlussky, 1967b: 83 [as subgenus of Formica]. Type-species: †Formica (Protoformica) proformicoides, by original designation.
- †Protoformica raised to genus: Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 77.

References

Barden, P. 2017. Fossil ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): ancient diversity and the rise of modern lineages. Myrmecological News 24: 1-30.
Blaimer, B.B., Brady, S.G., Schultz, T.R., Lloyd, M.W., Fisher, B.L., & Ward, P.S. 2015. Phylogenomic methods outperform traditional multi-locus approaches in resolving deep evolutionary history: a case study of formicine ants. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 15:271 (DOI 10.1186/s12862-015-0552-5).
Bolton, B. 1994. Identification guide to the ant genera of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 222 pp. (page 50, Protoformica as genus)
Bolton, B. 1995b. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp. (page 369, Protoformica as genus)
Bolton, B. 2003. Synopsis and Classification of Formicidae. Mem. Am. Entomol. Inst. 71: 370pp (page 130, Protoformica as genus)
Dlussky, G. M. 1967b. Ants of the genus Formica from the Baltic amber. Paleontol. Zh. 1967(2 2: 80-89 (page 83, Protoformica as subgenus of Formica)
Dlussky, G. M.; Fedoseeva, E. B. 1988. Origin and early stages of evolution in ants. Pp. 70-144 in: Ponomarenko, A. G. (ed.) Cretaceous biocenotic crisis and insect evolution. Moskva: Nauka, 232 pp. (page 77, Protoformica as genus; Protoformica in Formicinae, Formicini)
Ward, P.S., Blaimer, B.B., Fisher, B.L. 2016. A revised phylogenetic classification of the ant subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with resurrection of the genera Colobopsis and Dinomyrmex. Zootaxa 4072 (3): 343–357 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4072.3.4).