Sphecomyrma freyi
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| Sphecomyrma freyi | ||||||||||||||
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| Sphecomyrma Freyi Wilson ,1967 |
Sphecomyrma freyi is an extinct species of ant which inhabited the northern hemisphere of the supercontinent Laurasia approximately 80 mya in the Cretaceous. [1] It is one of the earliest known species of ant.
In 1966 a specimen of Sphecomyrma freyi was found embedded in amber which had been exposed in the cliffs of Cliffwood, New Jersey by Mr. Edmund Frey and his wife. In 1967 E. O. Wilson, F. M. Carpenter and William L. Brown, Jr. published a paper describing and naming Sphecomyrma freyi.[2] They described an ant with a mosaic of features, a mix of characteristics from modern ants and aculeate wasps. It possessed a metapleural gland, a feature unique to ants, it was wingless and possessed a petiole which was ant-like in form. The mandible was short and wasp-like with only two teeth, the gaster constricted and the middle and hind legs had double tibial spurs, wasp-like features. The antennae were, in form, midway between the wasps and ants, having a short first segment but a long flexible funiculus.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b (1990) The Ants. Harvard University Press, 23-25. ISBN 0674040759.
- ^ E. O. Wilson, F .M. Carpenter & William L. Brown (1967). The First Mesosoic Ant, with the Description of a New Subfamily. Psyche 74 (1): 1–19.
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