''Dolichoderus vectensis'' is an
extinct species of the
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...
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 22,0 ...
in the genus ''
Dolichoderus
''Dolichoderus'' is a genus of ants found worldwide.
Taxonomy
The ants of the Neotropical genus ''Monacis'' were revised in 1959 by Kempf. However, Brown in 1973 and G. C. Wheeler and J. Wheeler in 1973 and 1976 considered both ''Monacis'' and ' ...
''. Described by
Horace Donisthorpe
Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe (17 March 1870 – 22 April 1951) was an eccentric British myrmecologist and coleopterist, memorable in part for his enthusiastic championing of the renaming of the genus '' Lasius'' after him as ''Donisthorpea ...
in 1920, the fossils of the species were found in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
[Donisthorpe, H. 1920b. British Oligocene ants. ''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.'' 9(6): 81-94 (page 88, pl. 5, fig. 6 queen described)]
References
vectensis
Prehistoric insects of Europe
Fossil taxa described in 1920
Fossil ant taxa
Eocene species first appearances
Rupelian species extinctions
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