Cyrtopone
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Cyrtopone Temporal range: Middle Eocene |
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| C. microcephala holotype | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Tribe: | Ponerini |
| Genus: |
†Cyrtopone Dlussky & Wedmann, 2012 |
| Type species | |
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Cyrtopone microcephala |
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| Species | |
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Cyrtopone is an extinct genus of ants in the formicid subfamily Ponerinae described from fossils found in Europe. There are four described species placed into the genus, Cyrtopone curiosa, Cyrtopone elongata, Cyrtopone microcephala, and Cyrtopone striata. Cyrtopone is one several Lutetian Ponerinae genera.
When described, Cyrtopone was known from four fossil insects which are compression-impression fossils preserved in layers of soft sedimentary rock. Along with other well preserved insect fossils, the Cyrtopone specimens were collected from layers of the Lutetian Messel pit World Heritage Site. The formation is composed of brown coals, oil shales, and bituminous shale, which preserved numerous insects, fish, birds, reptiles, and terrestrial mammals as a notable lagerstätten. The area is a preserved maar lake which initially formed approximately 47 million years ago as the result of volcanic explosions.
At the time of description, the four holotype specimens were preserved in the Senckenberg Research Station Messel fossil collections. The fossils were described by Gennady Dlussky and Sonja Wedmann in a 2012 paper on the poneromorph ants of Messel, with the genus and four species named in it. The genus name is a combination of the ant genus Ponera and the Greek word cyrtos, meaning curved.
Cyrtopone is one of five extinct genera from three subfamilies which have species described from Messel Formation fossils by Dlussky and Wedmann in 2012. Three of the other genera Cephalopone, Messelepone, and Protopone are also placed in Ponerinae. The genus Casaleia is placed in Amblyoponinae, while the last genus Pseudectatomma is in Ectatomminae.
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