''Ctenobethylus'' is an extinct genus of

ants 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 Creta ...

in the subfamily

Dolichoderinae Dolichoderinae is a subfamily of ants, which includes species such as the Argentine ant (''Linepithema humile''), the erratic ant, the odorous house ant, and the cone ant. The subfamily presents a great diversity of species throughout the w ...

. The genus contains a single described species ''Ctenobethylus goepperti'', where the fossil is known to be from the

Baltic Amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...

. The fossil contained a preserved mesostigmatid mite attached to the head of the ant, which is perhaps the oldest known evidence of ecological association between mites and ants.

References

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...

Monotypic fossil ant genera Fossil taxa described in 1868 Fossil taxa described in 1939 Prehistoric insects of Europe Eocene insects {{Dolichoderinae-stub