''Iridomyrmex shandongicus'' 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 ...
species of
ant
Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...
in the genus ''
Iridomyrmex
''Iridomyrmex'' is a genus of ants called rainbow ants (referring to their blue-green iridescent sheen) first described by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr in 1862. He placed the genus in the subfamily Dolichoderinae of the family Formicida ...
''. Described by Zhang in 1989, fossils were originally found in 1989, and out of all the fossils in the genus, this one has strongest support that it belongs in the genus.
[Zhang, J. 1989. Fossil insects from Shanwang, Shandong, China. Jinan, China: Shandong Science and Technology Publishing House, 459 pp. (page 278, fig. 280 male described)]
References
†
Insects of China
Fossil taxa described in 1989
Fossil ant taxa
{{Iridomyrmex-stub