Abstract
Ant imprints, new and previously known, from Middle Miocene deposits near Kerch (Crimean Peninsula, Russia) are described or redescribed. A new Myrmicinae species, Solenopsis atavinus sp. nov., is described based on a wingless female. A winged female similar to the earlier described Dolichoderus tauricus Dlussky, 1981 is found: due to the excellent preservation of this specimen, the new specimen and the holotype of D. tauricus are redescribed and can be reclassified as Ponerites tauricus (Dlussky, 1981), comb. nov. Oecophylla taurica sp. nov. is described based on a partly preserved imprint of a female thorax with a forewing, the venation of which allows it to be positively identified as a weaver ant. Two other species are transferred from the formal genus Camponotites to Oecophylla based on forewing venation: O. kraussei (Dlussky et Rasnitsyn, 1999), comb. nov. (Early Eocene, United States) and O. macroptera (Dlussky, 1981), comb. nov. (Middle Miocene, Stavropol, Russia). One of the studied forewing imprints is similar in venation to Paraphaenogaster microphthalmus Dlussky, 1981, described from the Middle Miocene of Vishnevaya Balka (Stavropol province, Russia) and so is attributed to this species. Dolichoderus tavridus sp. nov. is described based on a forewing.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Antropov, A.V., Belokobylskij, S.A., Compton, S.G., Dlussky, G.M., Khalaim, A.I., Kolyada, V.A., Kozlov, M.A., Perfilieva, K.S., and Rasnitsyn, A.P., The wasps, bees and ants (Insecta: Vespida = Hymenoptera) from the Insect Limestone (Late Eocene) of the Isle of Wight,UK, Earth Envir. Sci. Trans. R. Soc. Edinburgh, 2014, vol. 104, nos. 3–4, pp. 335–446.
Bolton, B., An online catalog of the ants of the world. http//antcat.org. Accessed April 2016.
Carpenter, F.M., The Fossil Ants of North America, Bull. Mus. Compar. Zool. at Harvard College, 1930, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 1–66.
Cockerell, T.D.A., British fossil insects, Proc. US Nat. Mus., 1915, no. 49, pp. 469–499.
Cockerell, T.D.A., Fossil arthropods in the British Museum, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1920, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 273–279.
Deichmüller, J.V., Fossile Insecten aus dem Diatomeenschiefer von Kutschlin bei Bilin, Böhmen, Nova Acta Acad. Caes. Leopoldino-Carolinae Germanicae Naturae Curiosorum, 1881, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 293–331.
Dlussky, G.M., Miocene ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of the USSR, in Vishnyakova, V.N., Dlussky, G.M., and Pritykina, L.N., Novye iskopaemye nasekomye s territorii SSSR (New Fossil Insects from the Territories of the USSR), Rasnitsyn, A.P., Ed., Tr. Paleontol. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR, vol. 183, Moscow: Nauka, 1981, pp. 64–83.
Dlussky, G.M., Ants of the genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Baltic and Rovno ambers, Paleontol. J., 2002, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 50–63.
Dlussky, G.M., New species of ants of the genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the late Eocene ambers of Europe, Vestn. Zool., 2008, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 497–514.
Dlussky, G.M. and Perkovsky, E.E., Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Rovno amber, Vestn. Zool., 2002, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 3–20.
Dlussky, G.M. and Putyatina, T.S., Early Miocene ants (Hymenoptera,Formicidae) from Radoboj,Croatia, N. Jb. Geol. Paläontol. Abh., 2014, vol. 272, no. 3, pp. 237–285.
Dlussky, G.M. and Rasnitsyn, A.P., Two new species of aculeate hymenopterans (Vespida = Hymenoptera) from the Middle Eocene of the United States, Paleontol. J., 1999, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 546–549.
Dlussky, G.M. and Rasnitsyn, A.P., Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Formation Green River and some other Middle Eocene deposits of North America, Russ. Entomol. J., 2002, vol. 11, pp. 411–436.
Dlussky, G.M., Rasnitsyn, A.P., and Perfilieva, K.S., The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Bol’shaya Svetlovodnaya (Late Eocene of Sikhote-Alin,Russian Far East), Caucasian Entomol. Bull., 2015, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 131–152.
Dlussky, G.M., Wappler, T., and Wedmann, S., New middle Eocene formicid species from Germany and the evolution of weaver ants, Acta Palaeontol. Pol., 2008, vol. 53, pp. 615–626.
Donisthorpe, H., British Oligocene ants, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1920, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 81–94.
Emery, C., Le formiche dell’ambra Siciliana nel Museo Mineralogico dell’Università di Bologna, Mem. R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna, 1891, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 141–165.
Förster, B., Die Insekten des “Plattigen Steinmergels” von Brunstatt, Abh. Geol. Spezialkarte Elsass-Loth., vol. 3, no. 5, Strassburg: Strassburger Druckerei und Verlagsanstalt, 1891, pp. 333–594.
Gontsharova, I.A., Dvustvorchatye mollyuski tarkhanskogo i chokrakskogo basseinov (Bivalve Mollusks of the Tarkhanian and Tshokrakian Basins), Nevesskaya, L.A., Ed., Tr. Paleontol. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR, vol. 234, 1989.
Grimaldi, D.A. and Triplehorn, D.M., Insects from the Upper Miocene Grubstake Formation of Alaska, Am. Mus. Novit., 2008, no. 3612, pp. 1–19.
Heer, O., Die Insektenfauna der Tertiärgebilde von Oeningen und von Radoboj in Croatien. Zweiter Theil: Heuschrecken, Florfliegen, Aderflüger, Schmetterlinge und Fliegen, Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1849.
Heer, O., Fossile Hymenopteren aus Oeningen und Radoboj, N. Denkschr. Allgem. Schweiz. Ges. Gesammten Naturwiss., 1867, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 1–42.
Hong You-chong, Fossil insects in the diatoms of Shanwang, Bull. Tianjin Inst. Geol. Miner. Resour., 1984, vol. 8, pp. 1–12.
Hong You-chong, [Untitled. Liometopum jiaoyanshanense sp. nov.], in Hong You-chong and Wang Wenli, Miocene Diptera and Hymenoptera (Insecta) of Shanwang, Shandong Province, China, Mem. Beijing Nat. Hist. Mus., vol. 31, Beijing: Beijing Nat. Hist. Mus., 1985, pp. 1–22.
LaPolla, J.S. and Greenwalt, D.E., Fossil ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation, Sociobiology, 2015, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 163–174.
Mayr, G.L., Die Ameisen des baltischen Bernsteins, Beitr. Naturk. Preussens, no. 1, Königsberg: Königl. Phys.- Ökonom. Ges. zu Königsberg (in Commission bei W. Koch), 1868, pp. 1–102.
Nevesskaya, L.A., Akhmetiev, M.A., Bogdanovich, A.K., Zhegallo, V.I., Il’ ina, L.B., Karmishina, G.I., Serova, M.Ya., Sychevskaya, E.K., and Chepalyga, A.L., Biogeographic zoning of the territory of the USSR in the Neogene, Stratigrafiya SSSR. Neogenovaya sistema (Stratigraphy of the USSR: Neogene System), Muratov, M.V., and Nevesskaya, L.A., Eds., Moscow: Nedra,1986, vol. 2, pp. 377–386.
Perfilieva, K.S., Evolution of ant wing venation (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), Cand. Sci. (Biol.) Dissertation, Moscow: Moscow State Univ., 2008.
Perfilieva, K.S., Trends in evolution of ant wing venation (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), Entomol. Rev., 2010, vol. 90, no. 7, pp. 857–870.
Popov, V.V., Dva novykh iskopaemykh murav’ya s Kavkaza (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) (Two New Fossil Ants from the Caucasus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)), Borissiak, A.A., Ed., Tr. Paleozool. Inst. Akad Nauk SSSR, vol. 2, Leningrad: Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1932, pp. 17–21.
Rasnitsyn A.P., Proiskhozhdenie i evolyutsiya pereponchatokrylykh nasekomykh (Origin and Evolution of Hymenoptera), Rohdendorf, B.B. and Tatarinov, L.P., Eds., Tr. Paleontol. Inst. Akad Nauk SSSR, vol. 174, Moscow: Nauka, 1980.
Scudder, S.H., Appendix to Mr. George M. Dawson’s report. The insects of the Tertiary beds at Quesnel, Rep. Progr. Geol. Surv. Can., 1875–1876, 1877, pp. 266–280.
Théobald, N., Les insectes fossiles des terrains oligocènes de France, Nancy: G. Thomas, 1937.
Wheeler, W.M., The ants of the Baltic Amber, Schr. Phys.- Ökonom. Ges. Königsberg., 1915 (1914), vol. 55, pp. 1–142.
Wheeler, W.M., Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition: a contribution to the myrmecology of Africa, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 45, no. 1, New York: Published by order of the Trustees, 1922.
Wilson, E.O. and Taylor, R.W., A fossil ant colony: new evidence of social antiquity, Psyche, 1964, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 93–103.
Wilson, E.O., Ants of the Dominican amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). 3. The subfamily Dolichoderinae, Psyche, 1985, vol. 92, no. 1, pp. 17–37.
Zhang Jun-feng, Fossil insects from Shanwang, Shandong, China, Jinan, China: Shandong Sci. and Technol. Publ. House, 1989.
Zhang Jun-feng, Sun Bo, and Zhang Xi-yu, Miocene insects and spiders from Shanwang, Shandong, Beijing: Sci. Press,1994.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © K.S. Perfilieva, D.A. Dubovikoff, G.M. Dlussky, 2017, published in Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 2017, No. 4, pp. 54–64.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Perfilieva, K.S., Dubovikoff, D.A. & Dlussky, G.M. Miocene ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Crimea. Paleontol. J. 51, 391–401 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030117040098
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030117040098