Yantaromyrmex

Yantaromyrmex
Temporal range: Middle Eocene โ€“ Late Oligocene
Y. geinitzi worker
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Tribe: incertae sedis
Genus: โ€ Yantaromyrmex
Dlussky & Dubovikoff, 2013
Type species
Yantaromyrmex geinitzi
Species
  • Y. constrictus Mayr, 1868
  • Y. geinitzi Mayr, 1868
  • Y. intermedius Dlussky & Dubovikoff, 2013
  • Y. mayrianum Dlussky & Dubovikoff, 2013
  • Y. samlandicus Wheeler, 1915

Yantaromyrmex is an extinct genus of ants first described in 2013. Members of this genus are in the subfamily Dolichoderinae of the family Formicidae, known from Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene fossils found in Europe. The genus currently contains five described species, Y. constrictus, Y. geinitzi, Y. intermedius, Y. mayrianum and Y. samlandicus. The first specimens were collected in 1868 and studied by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr, who originally placed the fossils in other ant genera until the fossils were reviewed and subsequently placed into their own genus. These ants are small, measuring from 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in) in length and can be characterized by their trapezoidal shaped head-capsules and oval compound eyes that are located slightly to the rear of the capsules midpoint, with no known ocelli present.