Formica paleosibirica, Dlussky & Rasnitsyn & Perfilieva, 2015

Dlussky, G. M., Rasnitsyn, A. P. & Perfilieva, K. S., 2015, The Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Bol’shaya Svetlovodnaya (Late Eocene of Sikhote-Alin, Russian Far East), Caucasian Entomological Bulletin 11 (1), pp. 131-152 : 137

Formica paleosibirica sp. n.

( Fig. 11)

Material. Holotype PIN 3429/107, lateral imprint of male. Paratypes: PIN 3429/1105, imprint of male without head; PIN 3429/1133, lateral imprint of male without wings and gaster. Other specimens:PIN3429/1131 and 3429/1189, forewings.

Description. Male. Body length about 10–13 mm. Head trapezoid, 0.94 times as long as wide, with rounded occipital corners and weakly convex occipital margin. Anterior margin of clypeus rounded. Eyes oval, large, convex; head twice as long as maximum eye diameter. Scape protruding beyond posterior margin of head, 1.3times as long as head. Scutum convex in side view, does not overhang pronotum, 1.5times as long as scutellum. Propodeum gradually rounded in side view. Petiole triangulated in side view, nearly as long as wide and high. Genitalia with stipes triangular, rounded apically, 1.5 times as long as wide near the base. Forewing venation as in genus. Cell3r 3.7–4.7times as long as wide. Cell1+2r 2–2.5times as long as wide. Cell mcu trapecioid. Icu=2.6–2.7.

Measurements, mm. Holotype PIN 3429/107: AL 3.9; SctL1.9; SctlL1.3; PtL0.6; PtH0.6; FWL6.3. Paratype3429/1105: AL 3.4; PtL 0.5; PtW 0.51; FWL 6.5. Paratype 3429/1133: AL 3.3; HL1; HW1.1; ED0.48; SL1.3. Specimen PIN 3429/1131: FWL6.1. Specimen PIN 3429/1189: FWL6.7.

Comparison. By now, only 3 extinct Formica males are described in sufficient detail: Baltic amber F.flori and F.gustawi [ Dlussky, 2003] and F.ungeri Heer, 1849 from the Miocene of Radoboj in Croatia [ Dlussky, Putyatina, 2014]. Formica paleosibirica sp. n. differs from the two former species in having genitalia with stipes apex more rounded, and from F. ungeri in having propodeum lateral contour rounded rather than forming rounded obtuse angle.

Notes. For the present, it can be neither confirmed nor excluded that the above described worker and males belong to one and the same species.

Etymology. From the Latinized Greek palaios (ancient) and Siberia.