''Burmomyrma'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

aculeate Aculeata is a subclade of Hymenoptera containing ants, bees, and stinging wasps. The name is a reference to the defining feature of the group, which is the modification of the ovipositor into a stinger. However, many members of the group cannot ...

hymenopteran, suggested to be an ant. The genus contains a single described species, ''Burmomyrma rossi''. ''Burmomyrma'' is known from a single

Middle Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

fossil which was found in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

History and classification

''Burmomyrma'' is known from a solitary adult fossil, the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

, specimen number BMNH 19125. While the type specimen was collected in the early 1900s and deposited in the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

in London, description of the specimen did not occur until nearly 80 years later. The holotype specimen is composed of a mostly complete adult female which has been preserved as an

inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, aims to create an environment that supports equal opportunity for individuals and groups that form a society. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabiliti ...

in transparent chunks of deep yellow and relatively clear

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

. The

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

specimen was recovered from deposits in

Kachin State Kachin State ( my, ကချင်ပြည်နယ်; Kachin: ), also known by the endonym Kachinland, is the northernmost state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east (Tibet and Yunnan, specifically and respectively); Sh ...

of Myanmar. Burmese amber has been

radiometrically dated Radiometric dating, radioactive dating or radioisotope dating is a technique which is used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively incorporated when they were formed. The method compares t ...

using U- Pb isotopes, yielding an age of approximately 99 million years old, close to the

Aptian The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...

–

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

boundary. The fossil was first studied by Russian paleoentomologist Gennady M. Dlussky of the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

. Dlussky's 1996

type description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

of the new genus and species was published in the ''

Paleontological Journal ''Paleontological Journal'' (Russian: ''Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal'') is a monthly peer-reviewed Russian journal of paleontology established in 1959. It focuses on the paleontology and the fossil records of Eastern Europe and Asia. Articles are ...

''. The genus name ''Burmomyrma'' is a combination of

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, where the fossil was found, and the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

myrmica ''Myrmica'' is a genus of ants within the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is widespread throughout the temperate regions of the Holarctic and high mountains in Southeast Asia. The genus consists of around 200 known species and additional subspecies, ...

'' which means "ant". The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''rossi'' is a

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

honoring British paleoentomologist Andrew J. Ross. The structures of the waist and wings lead Dlussky to tentatively place ''Burmomyrma'' in the subfamily Aneuretinae. Due to the incomplete nature of the fossil, the genus has not been assigned to either of the aneuretine tribes, being left ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

''. This placement had been followed by other authors, including in the 2003 family review by entomologist Barry Bolton. In a 2015 review of formicids, Brendon Boudinot noted that the features Dlussky listed for the inclusion of ''Burmomyrma'' in Aneuretinae are pleisiomorphic, being found in several ant subfamilies, and that placement of the genus into several other subfamilies is possible. However Boudinot did not make any taxonomic moves in the review, leaving the Aneuretinae placement stand at that time. In 2018 a revision suggested that the genus was not an ant, but was an ant-mimic wasp in the family Falsiformicidae with two other genera known from the

Taimyr amber Taymyr or Taimyr may refer to: Places *Taymyr Peninsula, a peninsula in Siberia *Taymyr Gulf *Taymyra, a river in the Taymyr Peninsula *Lake Taymyr *Taymyr Island, an island in the Kara Sea *Taymyr Autonomous Okrug, a former federal subject of Rus ...

. However, other studies have disputed this claim, finding that again instead it was an ant, but the highly fragmentary remains made its precise position uncertain.

Description

The solitary ''Burmomyrma'' specimen is incomplete and shows poor preservation in general with the antennae, head, and part of the thorax missing from the edge of the amber. Overall it is estimated the full female body would have been around long with a thorax of about . The gaster is unconstricted, showing articulation between the first and second segments, and the first segments sports a number of short erect hairs. The sting has a distinct slight upward curvature and is overall short. The waist is composed of a single segment, composed of a nodoform petiole showing a cylindrical frontal area and narrowed posterior area. The

forewing Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwin ...

venation shows a lack of closed cells formed by veins. The petiol and forewings are distinguishing characters.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q16750381, from2=Q21078610 Cretaceous insects Fossil taxa described in 1996 Cretaceous insects of Asia Burmese amber Fossils of Myanmar