Gracilidris

Gracilidris
G. pombero worker from Paraguay
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Tribe: Leptomyrmecini
Genus: Gracilidris
Wild & Cuezzo, 2006[1]
Type species
Gracilidris pombero[2]
Diversity[3]
2 species

Gracilidris is a genus of dolichoderine ants with nocturnal behaviour; thought to have gone extinct 15-20 million years ago, they have been found in Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina and were described in 2006.[4]

The single existing fossil in Dominican amber makes the genus a Lazarus taxon. The only known extant species, Gracilidris pombero, nests in small colonies in the soil. These ants have been described only very recently and little is known about them.

Species

References

  1. Gracilidris in Hymenoptera Name Server
  2. "Genus: Gracilidris". antweb.org. AntWeb. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  3. Bolton, B. (2014). "Gracilidris". AntCat. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  4. Wild, A. L. and F. Cuezzo. 2006. Rediscovery of a fossil Dolichoderine ant lineage (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) and a description of a new genus from South America. Zootaxa 1142: 57-68. ISSN: 1175-5334 PDF

External links