Fossil Ants

Fossil ants include both specimens fossilised in shale or other stone (compression fossils) and ants embedded in Amber. Copal is a general term that refers to non-fossilised resin material whatever its geological age. Copal older than Holocene is referred to as fossil copal.

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.

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.

Amber - Fossil Resins
A few plant resins have the ability to fossilize and insects trapped and embeded in this matrix are known as amber fossils. Resin that is older than one million years are designated as amber and younger aged resins are known as copal.

Amber is often designated by the type of plant exudate or given a mineral name. Ant fossils are most often named for its geographical origin; Dominican amber, Mexican amber, Baltic amber, Saxonian amber, Rovno amber, Spanish amber, Lebanese amber, etc.

Copal
Subfossil resins or Copal can be Carbon-14 dated so that the resin sold as "amber" in Madagascar by gem dealers is approximately 50 years old. The Copal from Colombia has been dated as 250 years old.

Ichnofossils
Trace fossils of ant nests. The evidence for these fossils representing preserved ant nest structures are based on interpretation of various elements of the ichnofossils that are analogous to modern day ant nests.

Fossil Taxa

 * Subfamilies
 * Genera
 * Species
 * All fossils (subfamilies, genera and species)

Geologic Time Zones Containing Ants

 * Pliocene - About 5.333 to 3.6 million years ago.
 * Miocene - About 23.03 to 5.332 million years ago.
 * Oligocene - About 34 million to 23 million years before the present.
 * Eocene - Lasted approximately from 56 to 34 million years ago.
 * Paleocene - Lasted from about 65.5 to 56 million years ago.
 * Cretaceous - From circa 145.5 to 65.5 million years ago.