extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
ant
Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
in the subfamily
Myrmicinae
Myrmicinae is a subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily ...
known from two
Middle Miocene
The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene.
The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...
fossils found in
amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...
on
Hispaniola
Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...
. At the time of description, ''C. dieteri'' was one of seven fossil ant species placed in the ''Cephalotes'' ''coffeae'' clade.
History and classification
''Cephalotes dieteri'' was described from two fossil ants which are preserved as
inclusion
Inclusion or Include may refer to:
Sociology
* Social inclusion, action taken to support people of different backgrounds sharing life together.
** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabilities sharing various aspects of lif ...
s in transparent chunks of
Dominican amber
Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree '' Hymenaea protera''.
Dominican amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by being nearly always transparent, and it has a higher number of fossil in ...
. The amber was produced by the extinct '' Hymenaea protera'', which formerly grew on
Hispaniola
Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...
, across northern South America and up to southern Mexico. The specimens were collected from unidentified amber mines in the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
. The amber dates from the
Burdigalian
The Burdigalian is, in the geologic timescale, an age (geology), age or stage (stratigraphy), stage in the early Miocene. It spans the time between 20.43 ± 0.05 annum, Ma and 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). Preceded by the Aquitanian (sta ...
stage of the Miocene, being recovered from sections of the La Toca Formation in the
Cordillera Septentrional
The Cordillera Septentrional is a mountain range that runs parallel to the north coast of the Dominican Republic, with extensions to the northwest as Tortuga island in Haiti, and to the southeast through lowlands to where it rises as the Sierra d ...
and the
Yanigua Formation
The Yanigua Formation is a Formation (geology), geologic formation in Dominican Republic. The lagoonal claystones and marls preserve fossils dating back to the Miocene Period (geology), period.
At the time of description, the
holotype
A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...
and
paratype
In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...
specimens were both preserved in the collections of the
State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart
The State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (), abbreviated SMNS, is one of the two state of Baden-Württemberg's natural history museums. Together with the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karls ...
in Germany. Living and fossil ''Cephalotes'', ''Eucryptocerus'', ''Exocryptocerus'' and ''Zacryptocerus'' ants were examined in 1999 by Maria L. De Andrade and Cesare Baroni Urbani with a redescription of included species being published in the journal ''Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde. Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie)''. The two fossils were first described in the paper along with a number of fossils and were placed into the new species ''Cephalotes dieteri''. De Andrade and Baroni Urbani coined the
specific epithet
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
''dieteri'' as a
patronym
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic.
Patronymics are used, ...
honoring Dieter Schlee, who was responsible for amassing the Stuttgart amber collections that housed many of the specimens studied.
Phylogeny
In the study of ''Cephalotes'' by de Andrade and Baroni Urbani ''C. dieteri'' was grouped into the ''coffeae'' clade consisting of seven extinct species and four extant species. The clade shares two, possibly three distinct features between the species. Segment three of the abdomen is modified into a post petiole which in turn is modified to have large side wings. Additionally the first
sternite
The sternum (: sterna) is the ventral portion of a segment of an arthropod thorax or abdomen.
In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external. However, they can sometimes be divided in two or more, in which case the su ...
of the gaster has a simple reticulated surface sculpturing.
Description
Workers of ''C. dieteri'' range in length between , and a head length of . The frontal ridges on the face, rear corners of the head along with the borders of the pronotal and gastral wings are a lighter coloration than the rest of the workers bodies. The exoskeleton is covered with varying sized reticulation, and hairs of several types are present. There are two long thin hairs present on the second
tergite
A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; : ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the Anatomical terms of location#Dorsal and ventral, dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The Anatomical terms of location#Anterior ...
of the gaster, while the rear borders of the hind gasteral tergites have rare club-tipped hairs. The head is shorter than wide, with truncated rear corners and a concave rear edge. The face has two raised ridges that have crenulated margins, and the rear corners are also crenulated. The pronotum with a narrow, long, continuous suture, while the mesonotum and the petiole are both unarmed, lacking the larger spines seen on other species. The denser reticulation of the exoskeleton, along with the slightly smaller head size separates ''C. dieteri'' from its sister species '' Cephalotes integerrimus'', also from Dominican amber.