Fossil Ants

Introduction
Extinct or Fossil ants include both specimens fossilized in shale or other stone (compression fossils) and ants embeded in Amber. Copal is a general term that refers to non-fossilized resin material whatever its geological age. Copal older than Holocene is refered 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, 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.

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

Oligocene
The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly uncertain. The name Oligocene refers to the sparsity of additional modern mammalian faunas after a burst of evolution during the Eocene. The Oligocene follows the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period.

Oligocene ants from France

Oligocene ants from Germany

Oligocene ants from Great Britain

Sicilian Amber

Oligocene ants from the United States

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

Eocene Ants from Argentina

Baltic Amber

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