Formicidae

Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been described. They are easily identified by their geniculate (elbowed) antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.

Formicidae

Samantha Henneke from Seagrove, North Carolina, USA · CC BY 2.0 · 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
Also called
antPBDB
Sits inside
FormicoideaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 113 million years on record.

The record covers at least 113.2 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 119.57 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 5 of 2176 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 115 of 2176 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 3 of 2176 occurrencesEocene — about 1171 of 2176 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 140 of 2176 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 593 of 2176 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 15 of 2176 occurrencesPleistocene — about 45 of 2176 occurrences122–118 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences118–114 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences114–110 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences110–106 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences106–102 Mya — about 3 occurrences102–98 Mya — about 31 occurrences98–94 Mya — about 40 occurrences94–89 Mya — about 14 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 5 occurrences85–81 Mya — about 7 occurrences81–77 Mya — about 7 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 7 occurrences73–69 Mya — about 3 occurrences69–65 Mya — about 1 occurrence65–61 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences61–57 Mya — about 2 occurrences57–53 Mya — about 32 occurrences53–49 Mya — about 64 occurrences49–45 Mya — about 73 occurrences45–41 Mya — about 44 occurrences41–37 Mya — about 266 occurrences37–33 Mya — about 710 occurrences33–28 Mya — about 45 occurrences28–24 Mya — about 58 occurrences24–20 Mya — about 59 occurrences20–16 Mya — about 203 occurrences16–12 Mya — about 222 occurrences12–8.1 Mya — about 98 occurrences8.1–4.1 Mya — about 34 occurrences4.1–0 Mya — about 147 occurrences113.2 Mya11.7 ka122 Mya0 Mya

2,176 occurrences of Formicidae 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

2,176 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

77 formations

Florissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EGreen River — 42.17°N, 109.42°WGreen River — 39.60°N, 108.40°WGreen River — 38.90°N, 109.20°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 39.63°N, 108.15°WGreen River — 39.98°N, 109.18°WGreen River — 39.98°N, 109.11°WGreen River — 39.46°N, 108.41°WGreen River — 40.20°N, 108.97°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 39.54°N, 108.12°WGreen River — 39.72°N, 108.14°WGreen River — 39.40°N, 108.21°WGreen River — 41.08°N, 109.26°WGreen River — 42.13°N, 110.13°WGreen River — 41.80°N, 110.75°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WMessel — 49.93°N, 8.75°ESalt — 47.69°N, 7.53°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EKishenehn — 48.38°N, 113.68°WMazantic Shale — 17.15°N, 92.70°WKap København — 82.47°N, 23.66°WKap København — 82.45°N, 24.10°WKap København — 82.39°N, 24.18°WRaritan — 40.47°N, 74.32°WRaritan — 40.43°N, 74.33°WFoulden Hills Diatomite — 45.53°S, 170.22°EForemost — 49.83°N, 111.70°WKlondike Mountain — 48.66°N, 118.75°WKlondike Mountain — 48.80°N, 118.67°WNaibuchi — 47.44°N, 142.76°EEifel — 50.11°N, 6.82°EKizi — 45.48°N, 137.21°EOla — 60.17°N, 150.49°ELatah — 46.53°N, 116.79°WLatah — 47.61°N, 117.43°WLatah — 46.74°N, 116.27°WTitusville Till — 41.62°N, 79.64°WGrubstake — 63.86°N, 148.85°WAustralian Creek — 52.97°N, 122.50°WCockfield — 34.35°N, 92.78°WCockfield — 36.41°N, 88.34°W

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The named rock units Formicidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 53 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,482 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Formicidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Formicidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

6,807 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 399 sites for Formicidae, and this reads 240 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

342 references

Each of the 2,176 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. 330 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 Formicidae

Credit
Samantha Henneke from Seagrove, North Carolina, USA
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itFormicoidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Latreille 1802