I have recently been looking up data on the extinct giant (hummingbird-sized) Eocene ant Titanomyrma, as well as the closely related and possibly synonymous form genus Formicium. However, the only information I have been able to find on the paleobiology of these species is from Wikipedia, and none of the information they give cites a particular paper.
According to Wikipedia, Titanomyrma lacks a closing mechanism on the crop (whatever that means), sprayed formic acid as a primary means of defense, and has adaptations that suggest it was either a fungivore like modern leaf-cutter ants or was predatory in a manner similar to driver ants. Does anyone know what research articles (if any) proposed these ideas, and why? It could be that they were proposed in a paper regarding Formicium (which species assigned to Titanomyrma were formerly placed in).
Finally, as an additional question, does anyone know what living group of ants the Formiciinae (note the extra "i") are related to? The group may be extinct, but close living relatives are known it might be easier to determine how likely the presence/absence of these adaptations are.
Hello,
have you already looked up
Archibald S.B., Johnson K.R., Mathewes R.W., Greenwood D.R. 2011, Intercontinental dispersal of giant thermophilic ants across the Arctic during early Eocene hyperthermals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278: 3679-3686. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0729
?
The paper is not paywalled on:
http://www.antweb.org/description.do?genus=titanomyrma&name=lubei&rank=species
The paper introducing Formiciinae is:
Lutz, H. 1986, Eine neue Unterfamilie der Formicidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) aus dem mittel-eozänen Ölschiefer der ‘Grube Messel’ bei Darmstadt (Deutschland,
S-Hessen). Senckenb. lethaea 67: 177–218.
As a next step I would probaly look up which papers quote Archibald et al. in ISI (Web of Science).
I hope that can help you along.
Yes, I have already looked at Archibald et al., 2011, as well as the papers that cite it. None of the papers discusses any aspect of the paleobiology of Titanomyrma/Formicium beyond it is big.
Hi Russell, there is no information about Titanomyrma lubei paleobiology because we only had the specimens shown in our paper, so no data to do more than speculate on its biology other than structure and its relationships with living ants.
As we speculated in that paper, its large size and associated fossils implies T. lubei and its relatives lived in very warm and moist conditions, as do most of the living large ants.
The associated plant fossils from the site T. lubei was collected from (Green River Formation, Wyoming), and also that of the other species of Titanomyrma from Germany, all indicate that Titanomyrma species lived in tropical forests ranging from seasonally dry tropical forests (e.g., Wyoming) to tropical rainforests (e.g., Messel in Germany). What they ate, we can only speculate on.
The lead author on that paper is also on ResearchGate. You might try directly contacting Bruce.
Hi, Russell, Yes, we were interested in the kind of environment that it lived in and how that might have affected its dispersal. I know that Torsten Wappler in Germany is heading up a team to look more deeply into these ants. As David mentioned, we only had the one specimen, and it wasn't nearly as well preserved as the German ones, which are numerous and much better preserved. So, I expect that Torsten and his team will have a lot more to say about how these ants lived and where the Formiciinae fits into the ant phylogeny. Actually, you might also look at the work of Herbert Lutz for more info.
Here's Torsten's contact:
Cheers,
Bruce
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