Glaphyromyrmex, Wheeler, 1915

Boudinot, Brendon E., Borowiec, Marek L. & Prebus, Matthew M., 2022, Phylogeny, evolution, and classification of the ant genus Lasius, the tribe Lasiini and the subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Systematic Entomology 47, pp. 113-151 : 132

Exclusion of † Glaphyromyrmex from the Lasiini :

The Baltic amber formicine, † Glaphyromyrmex Wheeler , was placed in the Formicini until recently ( Wheeler, 1915, Donisthorpe, 1943, Dlussky, 1967, Dlussky & Fedoseeva 1988, Bolton, 1994), when Dlussky (2008) transferred the genus to the Lasiini . Placement of † Glaphyromyrmex in the Lasiini is counterintuitive given presence of a ventral double-row of setae on its metatibiae, a state which does not occur in any lasiine. Intuitive placement of † Glaphyromyrmex based on morphology is challenging, however. † Glaphyromyrmex differs from members of all formicine tribes in which double seta rows occur ( Formicini , Camponotini, some Melophorini). Specifically, † Glaphyromyrmex differs from the Formicini and most Camponotini in eye position (eyes set at about head midlength), from the Camponotini in having antennal toruli which abut the posterior clypeal margin (vs widely separated), and from the Melophorini, which have well-defined dorsal and ventral flaps surrounding the metapleural gland, a conformation that is apparently absent in † Glaphyromyrmex . Recognizing these differences, however, we transfer † Glaphyromyrmex back to the Formicini (tribal transfer) based on our combined analyses ( Fig. 4 ) and recommend revised study of the fine-scale external anatomy of the fossil taxon.

Figures

Fig. 4. Results from phylogenetic analysis of the Lasiini_w_outgroups_w_fossils_154t combined morphological and molecular dataset analyzed with MrBayes using the fossilized birth-death branch length prior and the IGR clock variation prior. Fossil taxa are indicated by a dagger preceding the name. Node support values are in Bayesian posterior probability. Filled circles indicate full support. Horizontal blue bars at nodes are 95% highest posterior density (HPD) intervals.