Formicidae species A

Uwe Kaulfuss & Gennady M. Dlussky, 2015, Early Miocene Formicidae (Amblyoponinae, Ectatomminae,? Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, and Ponerinae) from the Foulden Maar Fossil Lagerstätte, New Zealand, and their biogeographic relevance, Journal of Paleontology 89 (6), pp. 1043-1055 : 1050

Formicidae species A

Figure 8.1, 8.2

Description.—Forewing, visible length 3.7 mm. Closed cells 1 + 2r, 3r and mcu; closed rm absent. Pterostigma well developed. Vein sections 5RS and 4M with separate start (rs-m present). Cell 3r 3.8 times longer than wide. Cell 1 + 2r nearly 2.5 times as long as wide. Cell mcu trapezoid (RS + M appreciably shorter than 1Cu). Vein section 1RS nearly as long as 1M. Cross-vein cu-a displaced to the base of wing: vein section 2M + Cu a little longer than 1Cu, and 2.2 times as long as cu-a.

Material.—Specimen OU44903; a partly preserved forewing; deposited in the Department of Geology, University of Otago.

Occurrence.—Foulden Maar diatomite, Waipiata Volcanic Field, Otago, New Zealand; early Miocene.

Remarks.—The cross-vein cu-a displaced to the base of the forewing is a character found in Formicinae , Dolichoderinae , and Myrmicinae ( Dlussky, 1981) . However, in Formicinae the vein sections 5RS and 4M initiate jointed (cross-vein rs-m absent) and most Myrmicinae possess an open cell 3r. Thus, the fossil wing could belong to a representative of Dolichoderinae . It is very similar to forewings of the extant Tapinoma ambiguum Emery, 1925 , but as all species of the Tapinoma erraticum group, including T. ambiguum , inhabit the Palearctic Region, this similarity is likely to represent convergence.