Market›Titanomyrma
Company Profile

Titanomyrma

Titanomyrma is a genus of extinct giant ants which lived during the Eocene. The type species Titanomyrma gigantea and the smaller Titanomyrma simillima are known from the Eocene of Germany, while the third species, Titanomyrma lubei, is known from Wyoming, United States. The presence of Titanomyrma in North America was considered to indicate "the first reported cross-Arctic dispersal by a thermophilic insect group". However, a queen reported from upland temperate shales in British Columbia raised questions on the exact thermophilic nature of the genus. The type species of this genus, T. gigantea, is the largest-known species of ant, whether fossil or extant, in the world.

Taxonomy
Archibald et al. in 2011 erected the genus Titanomyrma, described the species Titanomyrma lubei and proposed two new combinations, T. gigantea (formerly Formicium giganteum Lutz, 1986) and T. simillima (formerly Formicium simillimum Lutz, 1986). T. gigantea has been designated the type species for the genus. The name of the genus is a derivative of the Greek (''''), meaning 'one of prodigious size, strength, or achievement', and alluding to the Titans of Greek mythology; and the Greek word ('''') meaning 'ant'. The genus Titanomyrma is differentiated from others in the family by the shape of the gaster which is variable. In the three included species the gaster ranges from ovate to more slender or cylindrical. The A5 abdominal segment width relative to other gaster segments is variable and the relative lengths of A3–A7 are also variable. near the village of Messel, in the state of Hessen, south of Frankfurt am Main in Germany. T. simillima Titanomyrma simillima, as with T. gigantea, are also only known from the Messel Formation, After discovery, Lube donated the fossil to the collections of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science where it was noticed by paleoentomologist Bruce Archibald and (then) museum chief curator Kirk R. Johnson while they were going through storage drawers. Archibald, Mathewes, & Aase (2023) reported a Titanomyrma queen from the Allenby Formation, and noted the range extension for Formiciinae into the Eocene Okanagan Highlands, as the subfamily was previously considered a strictly thermophilic ant group. Due to complications arising from preservational distortion during diagenesis, they were unable to determine the correct size of the queen in life. If the distortion was lateral, then compression to bilateral symmetry yielded an adult length of approximately , placing it the same range as Formicium berryi and F. brodiei, known only from wings, and suggested as possible males. Conversely stretching the fossil to bilateral symmetry results in a larger length estimate, placing it as comparable to queens of T. lubei and T. simillima. ==Paleoecological implications==
Paleoecological implications
of T. lubei with rufous hummingbird for scale The fossils of Titanomyrma gigantea, the first of the genus to be discovered, are very well preserved. They show that T. gigantea did not possess a sting and did not have a closing mechanism on its crop. It is surmised that it must have sprayed formic acid as a defence, and either ate fresh food, in the manner of leafcutter ants (which eat only the fungi they cultivate in their own nests), or was carnivorous. Modern relatives include driver ants. Titanomyrma may have been a precursor species, possibly following a raiding lifestyle and butchering large animals. ==References==
Source: Wikipedia ↗
tickerdossier.comtickerdossier.substack.com