Aphaenogaster amphioceanica

Introduction

Aphaenogaster amphioceanica is an extinct ant species known only from a single fossilized worker trapped in Dominican amber from the Middle Miocene epoch . Described by De Andrade in 1995,this ant lived roughly 15 to 20 million years ago in what is now the Dominican Republic . The preserved specimen shows a highly specialized head shape - it is strongly elongated and forms a distinctive 'collar' at the back, lacking the usual back corners seen in related species . Because this species is extinct and exists only as a museum fossil, it cannot be kept in captivity. No living colonies exist, and the species serves only as a scientific window into the ancient past of the Aphaenogaster genus in the Caribbean .