Avitomyrmex elongatus

Avitomyrmex is an extinct genus of bulldog ants in the subfamily Myrmeciinae which contains three described species. The genus was described in 2006 from Ypresian stage deposits of British Columbia, Canada. Almost all the specimens collected are queens, with an exception of a single fossilised worker. These ants are large, and the eyes are also large and well-developed; a sting is present in one species. The behaviour of these ants may have been similar to extant Myrmeciinae ants, such as foraging solitarily for arthropod prey and never leaving pheromone trails to food sources. Avitomyrmex has not been assigned to any tribe, instead generally being regarded as incertae sedis within Myrmeciinae. However, its identity as an ant has been challenged, although it is undoubtedly a hymenopteran insect.

No picture of Avitomyrmex elongatus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Avitomyrmex elongatus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AvitomyrmexPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At most 8 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 56 Mya and 48.07 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Paleocene — about 0 of 1 occurrenceEocene — about 1 of 1 occurrenceEocene56–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56.5 Mya47.6 Mya

1 occurrence of Avitomyrmex elongatus on record, most of them in the Eocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Avitomyrmex elongatus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Avitomyrmex elongatus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

4 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Avitomyrmex elongatus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Avitomyrmex elongatus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Avitomyrmex elongatus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Avitomyrmex elongatus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAvitomyrmex through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Archibald et al. 2006