''Crematogaster aurora'' is a valid species of

myrmicine Myrmicinae is a subfamily of ants, with about 140 extant genera; their distribution is cosmopolitan. The pupae lack cocoons. Some species retain a functional sting. The petioles of Myrmicinae consist of two nodes. The nests are permanent and ...

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 ...

that lived in

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

about 46 million to 43 million years ago during the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

era Eocene epoch. ''C. aurora'' has a similar look to the

genus '' Acanthomyrmex'' and shares some similarities with the ant genus ''

Pristomyrmex ''Pristomyrmex'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Distribution and habitat The genus is composed of 59 extant species restricted to the Old World tropics and a single extinct species, ''Pristomyrmex rasnitsyni'', described from S ...

''. The fossil found of ''C. aurora'' is of a

queen ant A queen ant (also known as a gyne) is an adult, reproducing female ant in an ant colony; she is usually the mother of all the other ants in that colony. Some female ants, such as the '' Cataglyphis'', do not need to mate to produce offspring, rep ...

that is brown in coloration. It probably died by

drowning Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...

in a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

approximately 46 million years ago.

References

Insects described in 2015

aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

Eocene insects of Europe Baltic amber Species known from a single specimen Fossil ant taxa {{Crematogaster-stub