Eotapinoma

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Eotapinoma
Temporal range: 79–56 Ma Campanian (late Cretaceous) to Paleocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Genus: Eotapinoma
Dlussky, 1988
Type species
Eotapinoma gracilis
Diversity
3 fossil species
(Species Checklist)

Eotapinoma and Chronomyrmex, from Canadian Campanian amber (79-78 Ma), are the only dolichoderines known from the Cretaceous. They were originally placed in the Tapinomini and Leptomyrmecini, respectively, but are now treated as stem-group dolichoderines (Dlussky, 1999; McKellar et al., 2013; Boudinot et al., 2016; Perrichot et al., 2019).

Identification

Distribution

This taxon is known from Foremost Formation amber, Alberta, Canada (Campanian, Late Cretaceous) and Sakhalin amber, Ukraine (Thanetian, Paleocene).

Castes

Nomenclature

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

  • EOTAPINOMA [incertae sedis in Dolichoderinae]
    • Eotapinoma Dlussky, 1988: 54. Type-species: †Eotapinoma gracilis, by original designation.

Taxonomic history

  • Eotapinoma in Dolichoderinae, Tapinomini: Dlussky, 1988: 54; Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 77; in Dolichoderinae: Shattuck, 1994: 91; Bolton, 1994: 26; Bolton, 2003: 88; incertae sedis in Dolichoderinae: Ward, et al. 2010: 362.
  • Eotapinoma as stem-taxon to Dolichoderinae: Borysenko, 2017: 19.
  • Eotapinoma catalogues: Shattuck, 1994: 91; Bolton, 1995b: 188.

References