Dolichoderus

Dolichoderus is a genus of dolichoderine ants found in eastern North America, Central America, tropical South America, Europe, most of Asia, and Australasia. The genus is the sole member of the tribe Dolichoderini and has an extensive fossil history across Baltic amber deposits in Europe. Dolichoderus is the type genus of the subfamily Dolichoderinae and was described in 1831. These ants cannot sting, are often seen tending to aphids and scale insects for honeydew, and some species of the genus, members of the D. cuspidatus group endemic to Southeast Asia, are nomadic aphid farmers.

Dolichoderus

Uncredited · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
DolichoderiniPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 120 occurrencesEocene — about 88 of 120 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 9 of 120 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 19 of 120 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 120 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 120 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 3 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 3 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 30 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 40 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 10 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 4 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 5 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 5 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–9.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

120 occurrences of Dolichoderus on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

120 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Florissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 39.54°N, 108.12°WSalt — 47.69°N, 7.53°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WLatah — 46.53°N, 116.79°WKishenehn — 48.39°N, 113.70°WArgun — 45.45°N, 36.47°EHarudi — 23.72°N, 68.84°E

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The named rock units Dolichoderus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 81 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dolichoderus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Dolichoderus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

3,442 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 66 sites for Dolichoderus, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

27 references

Each of the 120 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 15 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Dolichoderus

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
tunosemi
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDolichoderini through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lund 1831