The first queen-worker association for Cretaceous Formicidae: the winged caste of Haidomyrmex cerberus

Yuanyuan Guo; Chungkun Shih; De Zhuo; Dong Ren; Yunyun Zhao; Taiping Gao

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1048.66920

The first queen-worker association for Cretaceous Formicidae: the winged caste of Haidomyrmex cerberus

Zookeys. 2021 Jul 7:1048:69-78. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1048.66920. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yuanyuan Guo¹, Chungkun Shih^{1

2}, De Zhuo³, Dong Ren¹, Yunyun Zhao¹, Taiping Gao¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Sciences and Academy for Multidisciplinary Studies, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China Capital Normal University Beijing China.
² Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA National Museum of Natural History Washington, DC United States of America.
³ Beijing Xiachong Amber Museum, 9 Shuanghe Middle Road, Beijing, 100023, China Beijing Xiachong Amber Museum Beijing China.

Abstract

Two queen ant specimens, one alate and one dealate, from mid-Cretaceous (Late Albian-Early Cenomanian) Burmese amber are herein reported as belonging Haidomyrmex cerberus Dlussky, 1996. This is the first discovery and documentation of an alate queen in Haidomyrmex. Compared with workers of Haidomyrmex cerberus, alate and dealate queens are larger in body size, have smaller compound eyes, a longer antennal scape, more complex mandibles, and a relatively large-sized metasoma. It is hypothesized that these differences are due to caste differences.

Keywords: Alate queen; Haidomyrmecine; Myanmar; dealate queen; queen ant; workers.

Yuanyuan Guo, Chungkun Shih, De Zhuo, Dong Ren, Yunyun Zhao, Taiping Gao.