Gesomyrmex

Gesomyrmex is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus contains six extant species, known from the Indomalayan realm, and nine fossil species. Of the extant species, four are known only from workers (G. chaperi, G. howardi, G. kalshoveni and G. spatulatus) and two only from females (G. luzonensis and G. tobiasi). The extinct species "G. expectans" and "Gesomyrmex miegi", formerly placed in the genus, were excluded by Dlussky et al.., 2009.

Species

GENUS

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderHymenoptera
FamilyFormicidae

Diagnosis. Worker caste polymorphic. Eyes enormously large in workers and males. Antennae geniculate, 8-segmented in worker, 10-segmented in gyne and 8-11-segmented in male. Mandible in worker and gyne with 5-10 acute teeth; mandibles in male reduced, not opposable. Posterolateral corners of the head and propodeum without spines. Fore wings with closed cells 1+2r, 3r and mcu. Species numbers and distribution. Six extant species are known which are distributed in the Oriental tropics (Fig. 1). Three fossil species were described: Gesomyrmex hoernesi Mayr , 1868 (Baltic amber, late Eocene), G. expectans Theobald , 1937 (Kleinkembs, France, Oligocene) and G. miegi Theobald , 1937 (Haut-Rhin, France, Oligocene). The last two fossil species must be excluded from Gesomyrmex (vide infra). Five new species from middle Eocene deposits of Germany are described below. Comments. Mayr (1868) described the genus Gesomyrmex with the unique species G hoernesi from Baltic amber from 19 workers and one male. A quarter of a century later Andre (1892) described two new extant species from Borneo. One of them was similar to fossil G. hoernesi , and he described it as Gesomyrmex chaperi . The second spe

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