''Dolichoderus pinguis'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species of formicid in the ant 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 world ...

known from a fossil found in Asia. The species is one of a number in the genus described from fossils.

History and classification

''Dolichoderus pinguis'' is known from a single ant found in Russia. The specimen was described from a compression fossil preserved in diatomite deposits of the Bol’shaya Svetlovodnaya site. Located in the

Pozharsky District Pozharsky District (russian: Пожа́рский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #161-KZ and municipalLaw #191-KZ district (raion), one of the twenty-two in Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is located in the northern and northwestern parts of t ...

, on the Pacific Coast of Russia, the fossil bearing rocks preserve possibly

Priabonian The Priabonian is, in the ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age or the upper stage of the Eocene Epoch or Series. It spans the time between . The Priabonian is preceded by the Bartonian and is followed by the Rupelian, the lowest stage of t ...

plants and animals which lived in a small lake near a volcano. The site has been attributed to either the Maksimovka or Salibez Formations and compared to the Bembridge Marls and Florissant Formation, both of which are Priabonian in age. At the time of description, the holotype specimen, number PIN 3429/1134 was preserved in the A. A. Borissiak Paleontological Institute collections, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The fossil was first described by the trio of paleomyrmecologists Gennady Dlussky,

Alexandr Rasnitsyn Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn (Russian: Александр Павлович Расницын) is a Russian entomologist, expert in palaeoentomology, and Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation (2001). His scientific interests are centered on ...

and Ksenia Perfilieva. In the type description, Dlussky, Rasnitsyn and Perfilieva named the species ''D. pinguis'', with the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

derived from the Latin "pinguis", which means fat. ''D. pinguis'' is one of over forty five species in ''Dolichoderus'' that have been described from fossils, and is the only one to have been described from a male, all others being described from females.

Description

''D. pinguis'' was described from a lone long male preserved as a partial profile impression, missing portions of the legs, wings, and antennae. The head is shorter than it is long with rounded sides in the areas of the compound eyes. The eyes are big, being about half the length of the head. On the mesosoma, the

scutum The ''scutum'' (; plural ''scuta'') was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC. The Romans adopted it when they switched from the military formati ...

is larger than the scutellum which is only about half as long. The propodium bulges into a humped upper surface and the connecting area for the petiole is concave. A short neck connects the propodium to a node-like expanded petiole. While the ''D. pinguis'' male is the only fossil male described in the genus, the petiole does show similarity to ''

Dolichoderus kutscheri ''Dolichoderus kutscheri'' is an extinct species of ant in the genus ''Dolichoderus''. Described by Dlussky in 2008, the fossils of the species were found in the Bitterfeld amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of am ...

'' described from

Bitterfeld 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 ...

in Europe.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q24908202 Insects of Asia Eocene insects Fossil ant taxa Fossil taxa described in 2015 Prehistoric insects of Asia †Dolichoderus pinguis