I was browsing eBay’s amber offerings when I stumbled across this rather interesting item:
It’s a ring bearing a piece of Baltic amber and a pair of arthropod inclusions.
For 5 Myrmecos points, be the first commentator to correctly guess the subfamily of the ant. For 5 more, be the first to guess the genus. Sadly, I can offer only points- to get the ring itself you’ll need to bid.
The cumulative points winner for the month of January will take home their choice of 1) any 8×10-sized print from my photo galleries, or 2) a guest post here on Myrmecos.
Good luck!
A personal weblog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Hmmmmm…. Hard to tell from this angle. It looks more like a dromedary than a Bactrian ant, though.
Tip of the abdomen looks a bit more nozzle-like than slit-like, so I’ll stick my neck out and say Formicinae.
This looks to me like a minor worker of Gesomyrmex, subfamily Formicinae…
Formicine, Lasias
Gesomyrmex hoernesi
SteveS got it right, must be Gesomyrmex hoernesi with its characteristic large eyes, wide clypeus, triangular mandibles and short antennae. For a better preserved one see fossil Antweb: http://www.antweb.org/description.do?rank=species&name=hoernesi&genus=gesomyrmex&project=fossilants
Is this genus a sister group of Oecophylla?
Not so many of these in the Balkan Region these days.
[...] it Friday already? Crum. It’s been a busy week and I’ve neglected to answer the Case of the Amber Ring. Gesomyrmex (Formicidae: Formicinae) worker preserved in amber [...]