The ant genus Pristomyrmex Mayr (subfamily Myrmicinae) comprises about 60 extant species, distributed almost exceptionally throughout the tropics except for Central and South America. Single known fossil species from this genus, P. rasnitsyni Dlussky et Radchenko, was previously described from the Late Eocene Scandinavian amber. Here we described two new extinct species: P. elmesi sp. nov. (worker) from the Rovno amber, and P. archaios sp. nov. (male) from the Bitterfeld amber. P. elmesi differs from P. rasnitsyni by the somewhat smaller size (2.4 mm vs. 3 mm), by the slightly elongated, not transversal head (HL/HW 1.02 vs. 0.95), by the somewhat longer antennal scape (SL/HL 0.75 and SL/HW 0.77 vs. 0.72 and 0.68, respectively), by the much shorter, straight and thin propodeal spines (ESL/HW 0.12 vs. 0.25), by the absence of meadial tooth on the anterior cypeal margin, by the another type of mandibular dentation, and by the longer mesosoma. Male of P. archaios differs from all extant species by the presence of two closed cells, 1r 2r and mcu, on the forewing, while forewing of the modern species has only one closed cell, 1r 2r. We consider such kind of forewing venation as the plesiomorphy compare to extant Pristomyrmex species.
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1 June 2018
Two New Fossil Species of the Ant Genus Pristomyrmex Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Rovno and Bitterfeld Ambers
Alexander G. Radchenko,
Gennady M. Dlussky
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Annales Zoologici
Vol. 68 • No. 2
June 2018
Vol. 68 • No. 2
June 2018
ants
Bitterfeld amber
Late Eocene
P. archaios sp. nov.
palaeontology
Pristomyrmex elmesi sp. nov.
Rovno amber