Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Distribution and Differentiation of Fossil Oecophylla (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Species by Wing Imprints

  • Published:
Paleontological Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ten Middle Miocene imprints of Oecophylla Smith, 1860 (Stavropol Region, Russia) are described and redescribed from the collection of the Arthropoda Laboratory of the Borissiak Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Oecophylla has distinctive features of the wing venation, allowing the identification of fossils. Based on our study of extant ants, a procedure for identifying externally similar forewing imprints of Formicinae using the example of Oecophylla (Bembridge, United Kingdom) is proposed. It seems that the oldest Oecophylla is recognized now among early and middle Eocene ants from North America, a continent no longer inhabited by weaver ants, despite the apparently suitable climatic conditions. We suggest that historical distribution of weaver ants was determined by their ecology and behavior, and competition within ant assemblages.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Icua = ([1M + Cu] + [2M + Cu])/[1M + Cu], Icu = ([2M + Cu] + 1Cu)/1Cu after Dlussky (1981).

REFERENCES

  1. Antropov, A.V., Belokobylskij, S.A., Compton, S.G., et al., The wasps, bees and ants (Insecta: Vespida = Hymenoptera) from the Insect Limestone (Late Eocene) of the Isle of Wight, UK, Earth Envir. Sci. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 2014, vol. 104, nos. 3–4, pp. 335–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. AntWeb. Vers. 8.25.1. California Acad. Sci. https://www.antweb.org. Cited April 20, 2020.

  3. Archibald, S.B. and Mathewes, R.W., Early Eocene insects from Quilchena, British Columbia and their paleoclimatic implications, Can. J. Zool., 2000, vol. 78, pp. 1441–1462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Archibald, B.S., Cover, S.P., and Moreau, C.S., Bulldog ants of the Eocene Okanagan Highlands and history of the subfamily (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmeciinae), Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer., 2006, vol. 99, no. 3, pp. 487–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Archibald, S.B., Johnson, K.R., Mathewes, R.W., and Greenwood, D.R., Intercontinental dispersal of giant thermophilic ants across the Arctic during early Eocene hyperthermals, Proc. R. Soc. B, 2011, vol. 278, pp. 3679–3686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Archibald, S.B., Rasnitsyn, A.P., Brothers, D.J., et al., Modernization of the Hymenoptera: ants, bees, wasps, and sawflies of the early Eocene Okanagan Highlands of western North America, Can. Entomol., 2018, vol. 150, no. 2, pp. 205–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Arnan, X., Gaucherel, C., and Andersen, A.N., Dominance and species co-occurrence in highly diverse ant communities: a test of the interstitial hypothesis and discovery of a three-tiered competition cascade, Oecologia, 2011, vol. 166, pp. 783–794.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Cockerell, T.D.A., British fossil insects, Proc. US Nat. Mus., 1915, no. 49, pp. 469–499.

  9. Cockerell, T.D.A., Fossil arthropods in the British Museum, Ann. Mag. Natur. Hist., 1920, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 273–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Dlussky, G.M., Miocene ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of the USSR, in Novye iskopaemye nasekomye s territorii SSSR (New Fossil Insects of the USSR), Moscow: Nauka, 1981, pp. 64–83.

  11. Dlussky, G.M. and Rasnitsyn, A.P., Two new species of Aculeate Hymenopterans (Vespidae = Hymenoptera) from the Middle Eocene of the United States, Paleontol. J., 1999, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 546–549.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Dlussky, G.M. and Putyatina, T.S., Early Miocene ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Radoboj, Croatia, N. Jb. Geol. Paläontol. Abh., 2014, vol. 272, no. 3, pp. 237–285.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Dlussky, G.M., Wappler, T., and Wedmann, S., New middle Eocene formicid species from Germany and the evolution of weaver ants, Acta Palaeontol. Pol., 2008, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 615–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Dlussky, G., Karl, H.-V., Brauckmann, C., et al., Two ants (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) from the Late Pliocene of Willershausen, Germany, with a nomenclatural note on the genus Camponotites, Paläontol. Z., 2011, vol. 85, no. 4, pp. 449–455.

  15. Dlussky, G.M., Rasnitsyn, A.P., and Perfilieva, K.S., The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Bol’shaya Svetlovodnaya (Late Eocene of Sikhote-Alin, Russian Far East), Caucasian Entomol. Bull., 2015, vol. 11, pp. 131–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Donisthorpe, H., British Oligocene ants, Ann. Mag. Natur. Hist., 1920, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 81–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Durán-Ruiz, C., Riquelme, F., Coutiño-José, M., et al., Ants from the Miocene Totolapa amber (Chiapas, Mexico), with the first record of the genus Forelius (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), Can. J. Earth Sci., 2013, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 495–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Emery, C., Le formiche dell’ambra Siciliana nel Museo Mineralogico dell’Università di Bologna, Mem. R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna, 1891, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 141–165.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Floren, A. and Linsenmair, K., Do ant mosaics exist in Pristine lowland rain forests? Oecologia, 2000, vol. 123, no. 1, pp. 129–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Förster, B., Die Insekten des “Plattigen Steinmergels” von Brunstatt, Abh. Geol. Spezialkarte Elsass-Loth., 1891, vol. 3, pp. 333–594.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Greenwood, D.R., Archibald, S.B., Mathewes, R.W., et al., Fossil biotas from the Okanagan Highlands, southern British Columbia and northern Washington State: climates and ecosystems across an Eocene landscape, Can. J. Earth Sci., 2005, vol. 42, pp. 167–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Grimaldi, D. and Triplehorn, D., Insects from the Upper Miocene Grubstake Formation of Alaska, Amer. Mus. Novit., 2008, no. 3612, pp. 1–19.

  23. Heer, O., Die Insektenfauna der Tertiargebilde von Oeningen und von Radoboj in Croatien. Zweiter Theil: Heuschrecken, Florfliegen, Aderfluger, Schmetterlinge und Fliegen, Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1849.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Holldobler, B., Territorial behavior in the green tree ant (Oecophylla smaragdina), Biotropica, 1983, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 241–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Hong, Y.-C., Fossil insects in the diatoms of Shanwang, Bull. Tianjin Inst. Geol. Miner. Res., 1984, vol. 8, pp. 1–12 [In Chinese].

    Google Scholar 

  26. Hong, Y.-C., Amber Insects of China, Beijing: Sci. Press, 2002 [in Chinese].

    Google Scholar 

  27. Jackson, D.A., Ant distribution patterns in a Cameroonian cocoa plantation: investigation of the ant mosaic hypothesis, Oecologia, 1984, vol. 62, pp. 318–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Johnston, J.E., Insects, spiders, and plants from the Tallahatta Formation (Middle Eocene) in Benton County, Mississippi, Mississippi Geol., 1993, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 71–82.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Katzke, J., Barden, Ph., Dehon, M., et al., Giant ants and their shape: revealing relationships in the genus Titanomyrma with geometric morphometrics, PeerJ., 2018, vol. 6, e4242. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Kurane, S., Bhoje, P.M., and Sathe, T.V., On a new species of the genus Oecophylla, Flora and Fauna, 2015, vol. 21, pp. 37–40.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Mathewes, R.W., Greenwood, D.R., and Archibald, S.B., Paleoenvironment of the Quilchena flora, British Columbia, during the early Eocene Climatic Optimum, Can. J. Earth Sci., 2016, vol. 53, pp. 574–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Mayr, G., Die Ameisen des baltischen Bernsteins, Beitr. Naturk. Preuss., vol. 1868, no. 1, pp. 1–102.

  33. Pavlinov, I.Ya., Geometric morphometrics, a new analytical approach to comparison of digitized images, in Information Technologies in Biodiversity Research, St. Petersburg, 2001, pp. 40–64.

  34. Perfilieva, K.S., Wing venation anomalies in sexual individuals of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) with different strategies of mating behavior, Entomol. Rev., 2000, vol. 80, no. 9, pp. 1181–1188.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Perfilieva, K.S., Variability of quantitative characters of the wings by the example of some ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), Uspekhi Sovr. Biol., 2007, vol. 127, no. 2, pp. 147–156.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Perfilieva, K.S., The evolution of ant wing venation (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), PhD Diss. (Biol.), Moscow, 2008a.

  37. Perfilieva, K., An attempt of differentiation of fossil Formicinae species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) on the wings, in Proc. XXIII Int. Congr. Entomol., Durban, South Africa, 2008b.

  38. Perfilieva, K.S., Trends in evolution of ant wing venation (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), Entomol Rev., 2010, vol. 90, no. 7, pp. 857–870.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Perfilieva, K.S., Dubovikov, D.A., and Dlussky, G.M., Miocene ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Crimea, Paleontol. J., 2017, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 391–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Rasnitsyn, A.P., Parataxon and paranomenclature, Paleontol. Zh., 1986, no. 3, pp. 11–21.

  41. Rohlf, F.J., TPSrelw: Relative Warps, Vers. 1.20, N.Y.: State Univ. Stony Brook, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Steinbach, G., Zur Hymenopterenfauna des Pliozäns von Willershausen, Westharz. Bericht der Naturhist. Ges. Hannover, 1967, vol. 111, pp. 95–102.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Supriya, K., Price, T.D., and Moreau, C.S., Competition with insectivorous ants as a contributor to low songbird diversity at low elevations in the eastern Himalaya, Ecol. Evol., 2020, vol. 10, no. 10, pp. 4280–4290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Théobald, N., Les Insectes Fossiles des Terrains Oligocènes de France, Nancy: G. Thomas, 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Way, M.J., Studies of the life history and ecology of the ant Oecophylla longinoda Latreille, Bull. Entomol. Res., 1954, vol. 45, pp. 1–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Wheeler, W.M., The ants of the Baltic Amber, Schr. Phys.-Ökon. Ges. Königsberg, 1915 (1914), vol. 55, pp. 1–142.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Wheeler, W.M., Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition, Bull. Amer. Mus. Natur. Hist., 1922, vol. 45.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Wilson, E.O. and Taylor, R.W., A fossil ant colony: new evidence of social antiquity, Psyche, 1964, vol. 71, pp. 93–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Zhang, J., Fossil Insects from Shanwang, Shandong, China, Jinan, China: Shandong Sci. Technol. Publ. House, 1989 [in Chinese].

    Google Scholar 

  50. Zhang, J., Sun, B., and Zhang, X., Miocene Insects and Spiders from Shanwang, Shandong, Beijing: Sci. Press, 1994 [in Chinese].

    Google Scholar 

  51. Zryanin, V.A., Structure of ant assemblages of a monsoon tropical forest (Southern Vietnam), in Mater. XIII Vseross. mirmekol. simp. “Murav’i i zashchita lesa” (Proc. XIII All-Russ. Myrmecol. Symp. “Ants and Forest Protection), Nizhnii Novgorod, 2009, pp. 166–170.

  52. Zryanin, V.A., Analysis of ant assemblages of a monsoon tropical forest based on isotopic metrics, Proc. Russ. Entomol. Soc., 2015, vol. 86, no. 2, pp. 41–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is grateful to the staff of the Arthropod Laboratory of PIN RAS, and personally to A.P. Rasnitsyn for providing the material and helping with processing it, D. Dubovikoff (St. Petersburg State University) for discussing some issues of the ecology of ants, and A.Yu. Zhuravlev (Moscow State University) for help with the text.

Funding

The work was carried out within the framework of state assignment Pt. 2 no. TsITIS АААА-А16-116021660031-5.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    K. S. Perfilieva

Authors
  1. K. S. Perfilieva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. S. Perfilieva.

Additional information

Translated by D. Voroshchuk

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Perfilieva, K.S. Distribution and Differentiation of Fossil Oecophylla (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Species by Wing Imprints. Paleontol. J. 55, 76–89 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S003103012101010X

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S003103012101010X

Keywords:

Search

Navigation