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Two ants (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) from the Late Pliocene of Willershausen, Germany, with a nomenclatural note on the genus Camponotites

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Abstract

Two species of the genus Camponotites (Formicidae, Formicinae) are described from the Late Pliocene deposits of Willershausen, Lower Saxony, northern Germany: C. silvestris Steinbach, 1967, and C. steinbachi n. sp. The generic name Camponotites has been established for fossil (Tertiary) ants independently by Steinbach (Bericht der Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft zu Hannover 111:95–102, 1967) and by Dlussky (Trudy paleontologičeskogo instituta, akademiâ nauk SSSR, 1981), each for materials of different stratigraphical and geographical origin. Though poorly described, Camponotites Steinbach, 1967, and the single included (type) species C. silvestris Steinbach, 1967 (a monotypic species from the Late Pliocene of Willershausen), were based upon indication in the sense of the ICZN. Therefore, both the generic and specific names are valid and available. Camponotites Dlussky, 1981 (and its type species C. macropterus Dlussky, 1981) were certainly introduced correctly and are therefore available, too; but due to its homonymy the generic name is not valid. The revision shows that in this rare case both generic names are not only homonyms but also synonyms.

Kurzfassung

Aus Ablagerungen des Ober-Pliozän von Willershausen in Niedersachsen (Norddeutschland) werden zwei Arten von Camponotites (Formicidae: Formicinae) behandelt: C. silvestris Steinbach, 1967 and C. steinbachi n. sp. Der Gattungs-Name Camponotites wurde unabhängig voneinander zweimal für fossile (Tertiär-zeitliche) Ameisen aufgestellt: von Steinbach (Bericht der Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft zu Hannover 111:95–102, 1967) und von Dlussky (Trudy paleontologičeskogo instituta, akademiâ nauk SSSR, 1981). Beide Namen fußen auf Funden von unterschiedlicher stratigraphischer und geographischer Herkunft. Obwohl nur unzureichend beschrieben, basieren Camponotites Steinbach, 1967 sowie die einzige damals eingeschlossene (Typus-) Art C. silvestris Steinbach, 1967 (eine monotypische Art aus dem Ober-Pliozän von Willershausen) auf Indikation im Sinne der IRZN. Sowohl der Gattungs- als auch der Art-Name sind daher verfügbar und gültig. Camponotites Dlussky, 1981 [und dessen Typus-Art C. macropterus Dlussky, 1981] sind zwar korrekt eingeführt worden und somit ebenfalls verfügbar; der Gattungs-Name ist jedoch wegen Homonymie nicht gültig. Die Revision ergibt den seltenen Fall, dass beide Gattungs-Namen nicht nur homonym, sondern gleichzeitig auch synonym sind.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the following persons for generous help: Dipl-Geol Alexander Gehler (Göttingen), Brigitte Brauckmann, Dipl-Geol Jan-Michael Ilger, Dr Rainer Müller, Professor Dr Hans-Jürgen Gursky (all Clausthal-Zellerfeld). In particular we wish to express our sincerest thanks to Professor Dr Otto Kraus (Hamburg) for his detailed advice in nomenclatural questions, and to Vanessa J. Roden, BSc, for linguistic corrections. We are also grateful to G. Bechly (Stuttgart) and an anonymous reviewer for helpful criticism and suggestions. The study has been partially funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research grants no. 08-04-00701 (GMD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Faculty, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119899, Moscow, Russia

    Gennady M. Dlussky

  2. Museum, Collections and Geopark and Department of Geobiology, Geoscience Centre of the University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstrasse 1–5, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Hans-Volker Karl & Mike Reich

  3. Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Clausthal University of Technology, Leibnizstrasse 10, 38678, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

    Carsten Brauckmann & Elke Gröning

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  1. Gennady M. Dlussky
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  2. Hans-Volker Karl
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Correspondence to Gennady M. Dlussky.

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Dlussky, G.M., Karl, HV., Brauckmann, C. et al. Two ants (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) from the Late Pliocene of Willershausen, Germany, with a nomenclatural note on the genus Camponotites . Paläontol Z 85, 449–455 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-011-0104-2

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