Pachycondyla lutzi
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Pachycondyla lutzi Temporal range: Lutetian |
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| P. lutzi holotype | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Genus: | Pachycondyla |
| Species: | †P. lutzi |
| Binomial name | |
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Pachycondyla lutzi Dlussky & Wedmann, 2012 |
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Pachycondyla lutzi is an extinct species of ant in the formicid subfamily Ponerinae described by from fossils found in Europe. P. lutzi is one of six Lutetian Pachycondyla species.
When described Pachycondyla lutzi was known from ten fossil insects which are compression-impression fossils preserved in layers of soft sedimentary rock. Along with other well preserved insect fossils, the P. lutzi 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 holotype specimen, number SMF MeI 11958, and the other nine 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. The specific epithet "lutzi" was coined as a patronym honoring Herbert Lutz, one of the first paleoentomologists to study Messel ants.
The species is one of six Pachycondyla species which have been described from Messel Formation fossils. All six of the species were described by Dlussky and Wedmann in the same 2012 paper, the other five being P. eocenica, P.? messeliana, P. parvula, P. petiolosa, and P. petrosa. Another eight fossil species have been described from fossils in North America, Europe, and Asia.
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