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Issue: Vol. 8 No. 3: June 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-06-27
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.3.7
Page range: 307-315
Abstract views: 145
PDF downloaded: 6

The oldest known Cardiocondyla ant (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the late Eocene Rovno amber (Ukraine)

I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 15, B. Khmelnitskogo str., Kyiv 01054, Ukraine
Village Voronky, Volodymerets Distr., Rivne Prov., 34330, Ukraine
Hymenoptera Formicidae Ukraine Cardiocondyla primitiva sp. nov. morphology forewing venation taxonomy palaeontology late Eocene first record

Abstract

A new fossil species of the ant genus Cardiocondyla Emery, 1869, C. primitiva sp. nov., is described based on a winged gyne from the late Eocene Rovno amber (Ukraine, 37.8–33.9 Ma). It is the first Cardiocondyla found in the late Eocene European ambers, and the earliest known record of this genus. Most features of C. primitiva sp. nov. fit the modern diagnosis of Cardiocondyla. However, it is clearly distinguished from all known modern congeners by its much more developed forewing venation. In particular, the cells mcu, 1+2r and 3r are closed and the free branches 4+5RS and 2+3+4M are well developed, whereas forewing in modern species has only one closed cell 1+2r, and the free branches 4+5RS and 2+3+4M are strongly or completely reduced. The discovery of C. primitiva sp. nov. pushes the date of the earliest known fossil Cardiocondyla back at least 18 million years, and may force a reconsideration of its phylogenetic relationship with other Myrmicinae genera.

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