The ants of the genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Baltic and Saxonian amber (Late Eocene)

Seventeen extinct ant species have been ascribed to the genus Myrmica: four species from the Late Eocene and Oligocene (ca. 40–35 Ma) and thirteen from the Miocene (ca. 25 Ma). However, only one of these species, M. longispinosa Mayr, found in Baltic Amber, indisputably belongs to the genus. All other fossil ‘‘Myrmica’’ species belong to other genera. The extinct genus Nothomyrmica is considered to be heterogenic, artificially joining unrelated species (including some Myrmica) having the common feature of the absence of spurs on the hind and middle tibia, therefore N. intermedia and N. rudis are transferred to the genus Myrmica. Also, two new Myrmica species from European amber are described, a key for the identification of the extinct Myrmica species indisputably belonging to the genus, is provided and the possible paths of Myrmica evolution are discussed.