Procerapachys Wheeler, 1915

Radchenko, A. G. & Perkovsky, E. E., 2021, Wheeler’s dilemma revisited: first Oecophylla-Lasius syninclusion and other ants syninclusions in the Bitterfeld amber (late Eocene), Invertebrate Zoology 18 (1), pp. 47-65 : 52-53

Procerapachys Wheeler, 1915 ( Dorylinae ),

Paraneuretus Wheeler, 1915 , Protaneuretus Wheeler, 1915 ( Aneuretinae ), Prionomyrmex Mayr, 1868 ( Myrmeciinae ), Fallomyrma Dlussky et Radchenko, 2006 ( Myrmicinae ) and

Bradoponera Mayr, 1868 ( Proceratiinae ) in the tropical group.

Here we consider the genera Conoformica Dlussky, 2008 ( Formicinae ) and Eocenomyrma Dlussky et Radchenko, 2006 ( Myrmicinae ) as Holarctic by the following reasons: Conoformica belongs to the tribe Formicini , all extant members of which are distributed almost exclusively in the Holarctic (Dlussky, 2008), and Eocenomyrma is related to the genus Temnothorax ( Radchenko, Dlussky, 2016) .

Finally, we find it difficult to attribute fossil

Ctenobethylus Brues, 1939 , Eldermyrmex Shattuck, 2011 , Zherichinius Dlussky, 1988 ( Dolichoderinae ), Electromyrmex Wheeler, 1915 ,

Enneamerus Mayr, 1868 , Stigmomyrmex Mayr, 1868 and Plesiomyrmex Dlussky et Radchenko, 2009 to either groups.

As above, the study of ant (and other invertebrate) syninclusions is very important for analyses of the taxonomic and ecological structures of amber faunas, and are especially important in understanding their implications as tropical and Holarctic taxa.

Already Wheeler (1915) reported 10 ant syninclusions from Baltic amber and stressed that “simultaneous inclusion could only have occurred in the case of forms living at precisely the same time and place” (op. cit.: 15). Though they did not include a mix of definitely tropical and Holarctic ant genera, five syninclusions with Ctenobethylus goepperti ( Mayr, 1868) containHolarctic Dolichoderustertiarius ( Mayr, 1868), Myrmica rudis ( Mayr, 1868) , Lasius schiefferdeckeri Mayr, 1868 , Formica flori Mayr, 1868 and Cataglyphoides constrictus ( Mayr, 1868) , while two other include C. goepperti with tropical Yantaromyrmex geinitzi ( Mayr, 1868) and Gesomyrmex hoernesi Mayr, 1868 (names of species and genera are given according to modern taxonomy). The remaining three syninclusions contain only Holarctic or only tropical genera.

More than 60 ant syninclusions are known in late Eocene European ambers, including those with L. schiefferdeckeri reported by Dlussky (2011); 20 of these are from Bitterfeld amber (Dlussky, pers. comm., 2013) ( Table 1).

Five syninclusions from Bitterfeld amber contain both tropical and Holarctic ants: two of