Cephalotes olmecus is an extinct species of arboreal ant of the genus Cephalotes known only from Mexican amber inclusions.[1]

Cephalotes olmecus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Genus: Cephalotes
Species:
C. olmecus
Binomial name
Cephalotes olmecus
de Andrade, 1999

Taxonomy

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Cephalotes olmecus was first described in 1999 from two Chiapas amber fossil inclusions of respectively a worker and a dwarf soldier ant.[2] Maria de Andrade, who described the species, placed C. olmecus in the grandinosus clade in which it forms a subclade with fossil species Cephalotes maya and extant species Cephalotes foliaceus.[2]

The specific epithet olmecus is in reference to the Olmecs of Mexico.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Fossilworks: Cephalotes olmecus". www.fossilworks.org. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Andrade, Maria L. de; Baroni Urbani, Cesare (1999). "Diversity and adaptation in the ant genus Cephalotes, past and present (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde. 271. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde: 425–429, 853. Retrieved 6 January 2024.