Fossil Dorylinae CT data

Among social insects, army ants are exceptional in their voracious coordinated predation and nomadic life history: the synthesis of these remarkable ecological traits is referred to as the army ant syndrome. Despite molecular evidence that the army ant syndrome evolved twice during the mid-Cenozoic, once in the Neotropics and once in the Afrotropics, fossil army ants are markedly scarce, comprising a single known species from the Caribbean 16 Ma. Here we report the oldest army ant fossil and the first from the Eastern Hemisphere (EH), Dissimulodorylus perseus, preserved in Baltic amber dated to the Eocene. Using a combined morphological and molecular Ultra Conserved Elements dataset spanning doryline lineages, we find that D. perseus is nested among extant EH army ants with affinities to Dorylus “driver ants.” Army ants are characterized by limited extant diversification throughout most of the Cenozoic; the discovery of D. perseus suggests an unexpected diversity of now-extinct army ant..., Specimen
Type material is preserved within a ~1cm x 0.8cm piece of transparent Baltic amber with crazing (surface cracks). It is possible that a previously applied resin meant to affix the specimen to a microscope slide contributed to intense crazing (Sadowski et al. 2021). Specimen PALE-8463 is deposited within the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) at Harvard University. The precise collection date is unknown, however, the specimen number is recorded in a ledger titled ‘Catalogue of Fossil Insects in the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy’ on the same page (98) as a specimen received in 1937; the following page (99) also contains two entries dated 1937. In addition, the method of storage (the specimen was initially mounted to a microscope slide, a practice no longer followed) and aging on the specimen label are in line with this approximate date. The age of Baltic amber is not precise and likely varies depending on outcrop, however, an Eocene age (~34 Ma) has been suggested through multip...,

在社会性昆虫中，军蚁因其贪婪的协同捕食行为和游牧式生活史而独具特色：这些显著生态特征的集合被称为军蚁综合征（army ant syndrome）。尽管分子证据表明军蚁综合征在新生代中期（mid-Cenozoic）独立演化了两次——一次在新热带界（Neotropics），一次在非洲热带界（Afrotropics）——但军蚁化石却极为稀少，仅包含一种已知的1600万年前加勒比地区的物种。在此，我们报道了已知最古老的军蚁化石，同时也是东半球（Eastern Hemisphere, EH）的首个军蚁化石——迪氏隐矛蚁（Dissimulodorylus perseus），其被保存在可追溯至始新世（Eocene）的波罗的海琥珀（Baltic amber）中。通过整合涵盖矛蚁亚科支系（doryline lineages）的形态学数据与分子超保守元件（Ultra Conserved Elements）数据集，我们发现迪氏隐矛蚁嵌套于现存东半球军蚁类群中，且与矛蚁属（Dorylus）的“行军蚁”具有亲缘关系。军蚁在新生代大部分时期的现存多样性有限；迪氏隐矛蚁的发现表明，现已灭绝的军蚁类群曾具有出乎意料的多样性……

模式标本材料保存在一块约1cm×0.8cm的透明波罗的海琥珀中，琥珀带有裂纹（表面裂隙）。先前为将标本固定在显微镜载玻片上而使用的树脂可能导致了严重的裂纹（Sadowski等，2021）。标本PALE-8463存放于哈佛大学比较动物学博物馆（Museum of Comparative Zoology, MCZ）。标本的确切采集日期未知，但标本编号记录在题为《比较动物学博物馆化石昆虫目录》的账簿第98页，该页同时记载了1937年接收的一件标本；下一页（99页）也包含两条1937年的记录。此外，标本的存储方式（最初被固定在显微镜载玻片上，该做法现已不再采用）以及标本标签的老化程度均与这一近似日期相符。波罗的海琥珀的年龄并不精确，且可能因出产地不同而有所差异，但通过多学科……研究已提出其为始新世（约3400万年）。