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The ants of the genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Baltic and Saxonian amber (Late Eocene)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Alexander Radchenko ,
Gennady Dlussky  and
Graham W. Elmes
Alexander Radchenko
Affiliation:
Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 64, Wilcza str., 00-679, Warsaw,
Gennady Dlussky
Affiliation:
Moscow State University, Vorob'evy gory, 119899, Moscow, Russia,
Graham W. Elmes
Affiliation:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX 10 888, United Kingdom,
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Extract

In the course of ongoing revision of the ant genus Myrmica Latreille, 1804, we located, in the collections of the Russian and Polish Academies of Sciences, pieces of Baltic Amber (Late Eocene, ca. 40 Ma; earlier this amber was considered to be Oligocene, e.g., see Wheeler, 1915; Larsson, 1978; Bolton, 1995; Dlussky, 1997), that each contained a fossilized specimen of Myrmica. We were also fortunate to be given access to a piece of Saxonian Amber (the same age as Baltic Amber) from the collection of Manfred Kutscher that contained three specimens of Myrmica. Four of the specimens belong to two new species. We describe these below, placing them in context with extant species, and we re-appraise all previously described fossil Myrmica, providing a key to the identification of the five extinct “true” Myrmica species.

Type
Paleontological Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 81 , Issue 6 , November 2007 , pp. 1494 - 1501
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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