Fossil Ants



Extinct or Fossil ants include both specimens fossilized in shale or other stone (compression fossils) and ants embeded in Amber and Copal. Winged and worker ants were much larger in times past so that some ant specimens are still identifiable as ants when found in stone. Specimens preserved in amber are in much better condition allowing for a more reliable identification.

The geologic age of the deposits are important in understanding the evolution of ants as well as their extinction and the distribution of ants worldwide. In some cases the surrounding vegetation and insects that are preserved along with the ants allows a partial reconstruction of the habitat and in some cases the microhabitat as well.

Geologic time zones reflecting the evolution of ants.


The Cretaceous subfamily Specomyrminae is the most primitive group of true ants. The earliest ants are found in amber dating back to the Cretaceus Period (145.5 to 65.5 million years ago). True ants probably originated no more than 120 million years ago.

Early Ants
Modified after Grimaldi and Engel 2005 The Evolution of the Insects

Families, subfamilies (4), tribes, genera and species.

List of Extinct Ants

Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.332 million years ago (Ma)

Miocene Ants from Argentina Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene

Miocene Ants from Canada

Miocene Ants from Caucasus

Miocene Ants from China

Miocene Ants from Croatia

Miocene Ants from Czech Republic

Miocene Ants from Czechoslovakia

Miocene Ants from Dominican Republic

Miocene Ants from France

Miocene Ants from Germany

Miocene Ants from Greece

Miocene Ants from Japan

Miocene Ants from Russia

Miocene Ants from Sicily

Miocene Ants from Switzerland

Miocene Ants from United States

Miocene Ants from Yugoslavia

Eocene
The Eocene is a geological epoch of the Paleogenee Period which lasted approximately from 56 to 34 million years ago

Eocene Ants from Argentina

Baltic Amber

The Baltic and similar ambers are widespread on the territories of the Central and Eastern Europe and for a long time attracted attention of geologists, entomologists, and other researchers. The age and sources of amber from different regions of Europe have been a subject of discussion for many decades. Because amber easily withstands repeated redeposition and because its mineralogical characteristics are variable, an important role in settling these issues is played by organic inclusions, particularly the relatively well-studied inclusions of ants.

Bitterfeld Amber

Eocene Ants from Canada

Eocene Ants from China

Eocene Ants from Germany

Eocene Ants from Great Britain

Eocene Ants from United States

Rovno Amber

Paleocene
The Paleocene or Palaeocene, the "early recent", is a geologic epoch that lasted from about 65.5 to 56 million years ago

Paleocene Ants from Russia

Paleocene Ants from Denmark (Paleocene-Eocene)

Cretaceous
The Cretaceous, is a geologic period and system from circa 145.5 ± 4 to 65.5 ± 0.3 million years (Ma) ago

Burmese Amber

Cretaceous ants from Botswana

Cretaceous ants from Canada

Cretaceous ants from France

Cretaceous ants from Myanmar

Cretaceous ants from Russia

Cretaceous ants from United States