Protopone

Protopone Temporal range: Middle Eocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Protopone primigena holotype
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Tribe:	Ponerini
Genus:	†Protopone Dlussky, 1988
Type species
Protopone primigena
Species
P.? dubia P. germanica P. magna P. oculata P. primigena P. sepulta P. vetula

Protopone is an extinct genus of ants in the formicid subfamily Ponerinae described from fossils found in Europe and Asia. There are seven described species placed into the genus, Protopone? dubia, Protopone germanica, Protopone magna, Protopone oculata, Protopone primigena, Protopone sepulta, and Protopone vetula. Protopone is one several Lutetian Ponerinae genera.

When first described, Protopone was known from a single fossil insect included in a transparent chunk of Sakhalin amber. When the fossil was described it was part of the amber collections housed in the Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. The amber was recovered from fossil bearing rocks in the Sakhalin region of Eastern Russia. At the time of description, the amber was estimated to date from the Paleocene. Further research has revised the amber, which originates from the Lower Due Formation, to be of Middle Eocene age. The amber fossil was first studied by paleoentomologist Gennady Dlussky of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with his 1988 type description for the species was published in Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal. In 2012 an additional six species were identified from compression-impression fossils preserved in layers of soft sedimentary rock. Along with other well preserved insect fossils, the Protopone specimens were collected from layers of Lutetian Messel Formation rock in the Messel pit World Heritage Site. The Messel 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.