Myrmeciites
Encyclopedia
Myrmeciites is a form genus
Form classification
Form classification is the classification of organisms based on their morphology, which does not necessarily reflect their biological relationships...
of extinct bulldog ants
Myrmeciinae
The Myrmeciinae is a subfamily of the Formicidae that was once found worldwide but is now restricted to Australia and New Caledonia. This subfamily is one of several ant subfamilies which possess gamergates, female worker ants which are able to mate and reproduce, thus sustaining the colony after...
which contains three described species and two fossils not placed beyond the genus level. All three of the described species and one unplaced fossil are from British Columbia, Canada, while the second unplaced fossil is from Washington State, USA.
History and classification
Fossils of Myrmeciites were first studied and described by Bruce Archibald, Stefan Cover and Corrie Moreau of the Museum of Comparative ZoologyMuseum of Comparative Zoology
The Museum of Comparative Zoology, full name "The Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology", often abbreviated simply to "MCZ", is a zoology museum located on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of three museums which collectively comprise the Harvard Museum...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. They published their 2006 description of the form genus and species in an Annals of the Entomological Society of America journal article. The genus name is a combination of the the subfamily name "Myrmeciinae" and the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
suffix "ites", meaning "having the nature of", which commonly used in fossil taxon naming.
Included with the form genus description, the paper contained the description of Myrmeciites herculeanus, Myrmeciites(?) goliath, and Myrmeciites(?) tabanifluviensis.
Description
Archibald, Cover, and Moreau erected the form genus as an encompassing category for all fossil ants which, while belonging to the subfamily Myrmeciinae, lack details needed for placement in the described genera. This may be due to preservation quality or positioning of the individual ant resulting in details being obscured. As the Myrmeciites is a form genus it does not have a designated type species per the International Code of Zoological NomenclatureInternational Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals...
.
M. herculeanus
M. herculeanus was described from a single side of a compression fossil found at the Middle YpresianYpresian
In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between and , is preceded by the Thanetian age and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian age....
McAbee locality, Kamloops Group, near Cache Creek, British Columbia
Cache Creek, British Columbia
Cache Creek is a junction community northeast of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is on the Trans-Canada Highway in the province of British Columbia at its junction with northbound Highway 97...
. The incomplete specimen, numbered UCCIPR L-18 F-974, is currently preserved in the paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
collections housed at the Thompson Rivers University
Thompson Rivers University
Thompson Rivers University is a comprehensive university located in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. It offers students a broad range of courses, career streams, and the ability to ladder credits from diploma programs into full degrees...
, Kamloops, British Columbia
Kamloops, British Columbia
Kamloops is a city in south central British Columbia, at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River and near Kamloops Lake. It is the largest community in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and the location of the regional district's offices. The surrounding region is more commonly...
. Archibald, Cover, and Moreau coined the specific epithet
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
"herculeanus" from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name "Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
" in reference to the notably sturdy and large morphology of the type specimen. The species is discernible from the other species of Myrmeciinae by its notably larger size, the worker caste ant being estimated at over 20 millimetre (0.78740157480315 in) in life. The shape of the petiole is distinct from other species and is similar in structure to the genus Prionomyrmex
Prionomyrmex
Prionomyrmex is a genus of extinct ants belonging to the subfamily Myrmeciinae. This genus is known only from fossil specimens in amber dating to the Eocene. It was suggested by Baroni Urbani in 2000 that the living species Nothomyrmecia macrops belongs in Prionomyrmex, but this proposal has not...
, though the shape and size of the mandibles is distinct. The size of the single know worker is larger then any of the studied queens, which in combination with Myrmeciinae queens being slightly larger then the other castes in a species indicates M. herculeanus is most likely a distinct species. Due to the incomplete nature of the type specimen the species was placed in Myrmeciites.
M.(?) goliath
The second species described from the McAbee site is M.(?) goliath and as with M. herculeanus, it is known from one specimen, though both the part and counterpart are known for M.(?) goliath. The holotype is included in the Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, collections as UCCIPR L-18 F-999 and UCCIPRL-18 F-1000 for each side respectively. The species name "goliath" was chosen by Archibald, Cover and Moreau in reference to the mythological Goliath, due to the notable size of the ant. The holotype specimen is a partial worker or queen which is incomplete, with the a notable portion of the gaster missing. The species can be separated from other ants by the large size, the holotype approaching 3 centimetres (1.2 in). The only other Eocene ants in this size range are members of the genus TitanomyrmaTitanomyrma
Titanomyrma was a genus of giant ant. The latest species to be discovered, T. lubei, was described in 2011, when a fossilized winged queen ant, comparable in size to hummingbirds, was found in Wyoming. This fossil is the first body of a giant ant found in the Western Hemisphere...
, that were formerly placed in Formicium
Formicium
Formicium is an extinct collective genus of giant ants in the Formicidae subfamily Formiciinae. The genus currently contains three species, Formicium berryi, Formicium brodiei, and Formicium mirabile...
. M.(?) goliath is distinguishable from Titanomyrma by the shape and structure of the antennae and length of the legs, which are notably shorter in Titanomyrma. Within Myrmeciinae, the size of M.(?) goliath and having a head that is smaller in proportion to the mesosoma
Mesosoma
The mesosoma is the middle part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the metasoma. It bears the legs, and, in the case of winged insects, the wings....
then seen in the other species.
M.(?) tabanifluviensis
Unlike the other described Myrmeciites species, M.(?) tabanifluviensis is the only species not from the McAbee locality. The holotype, currently deposited in the Courtenay and District Museum paleontology collections as "2003.2.10 CDM 034" was recovered from shale of an unnamed formation outcropping near the town of Horsefly, British ColumbiaHorsefly, British Columbia
Horsefly, formerly known as Harper's Camp, is an unincorporated community in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located between the Cariboo Mountains and Quesnel Lake and borders Wells Gray Provincial Park....
. The specimen is incomplete with both the head and portions of the mesosoma and gaster missing. The adult had an estimated length in life of over 1.5 centimetre (0.590551181102362 in). Due to the incomplete nature of the specimen, and position of the preserved portions the gender is not identifiable, though the presence of wings indicates it to be a reproductive adult. The small size of the specimen, with a fore-wing length of approximately 12 millimetre (0.47244094488189 in) separates this species from other members of the British Columbia Myrmeciinae. The type locality for the species, near the Horsefly River, was the basis for Archibald, Cover and Moreau choosing the specific epithet tabanifluviensis, which a combination of the horsefly genus name Tabanus
Tabanus
Tabanus is a genus of biting horseflies of the family Tabanidae. Females have scissor-like mouthparts that aim to cut the skin. The horsefly can then lap up the blood. Horseflies of this genus are known to be potential vectors of anthrax, worms and trypanosomes. Some species, such as Tabanus...
, the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word fluvius meaning "river" and the sufix -ensis meaning "origin" or "place".
Unplaced specimens
Two additional specimens were placed within the form genus but not into a specific species. The Courtenay and District Museum specimen "2003.2.9 CDM 03 a&b" is a 2 centimetres (20 mm) long partial male recovered from the Falkland site, near Falkland, British ColumbiaFalkland, British Columbia
Falkland is a small community located in the Okanagan-Shuswap region of British Columbia, Canada between Vernon and Kamloops.Falkland is recognized for one Canada's largest Canadian flags, which is located on Gyp Mountain and can be seen up to 7 km away. The Falkland area has a wide array of...
. The generally robust nature of the specimen excludes it from the genus Avitomyrmex
Avitomyrmex
Avitomyrmex is an extinct genus of bulldog ants which contains three described species. All three of the described species are from British Columbia, Canada.-History and classification:...
, but the details needed for placement between the genera Ypresiomyrma
Ypresiomyrma
Ypresiomyrma is an extinct genus of bulldog ants in the subfamily Myrmeciinae which contains three described species. One species is known from the Isle of Fur in Denmark and two are from British Columbia, Canada.-History and classification:...
and Macabeemyrma
Macabeemyrma
Macabeemyrma is an extinct genus of bulldog ants in the subfamily Myrmeciinae and containing the single species Macabeemyrma ovata...
are not present. The Stonerose Interpretive Center specimen "SR 05-03-01" is a possible queen or worker which would have been an estimated 1.5 centimetres (15 mm) long in life. Due to the lateral preservation of the specimen, most characters for placing the specimen into one of the defined species are obscured or absent. The specimen was recovered from outcrops of the Klondike Mountain Formation
Klondike Mountain Formation
The Klondike Mountain Formation is an early Eocene geologic formation that records the sedimentation in the southern most of a string of highland subtropical/Temperate lakes in Washington state and British Columbia. The formation is best known for exceptionally well preserved plant and insect fossils...
north west of Republic, Washington
Republic, Washington
Republic is a city in Ferry County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,073 at the 2010 census, a 12.5% increase over the 2000 Census. It is the county seat of Ferry County.-History:...
.