Formica radchenkoi

Introduction

Formica radchenkoi is an extinct ant species known only from Late Eocene European ambers, approximately 33-38 million years old. Workers were similar in size to modern Formica species, with a compact body, large eyes, and a distinctive notched anterior clypeal margin . The species was described from Rovno amber (Ukraine) and is also recorded from Baltic amber, Gulf of Gdańsk, Bitterfeld, and Jutland ambers, making it one of the more widely distributed Formica species in European Eocene ambers . It belongs to the subgenus Raptiformica, which includes modern slave-making ants . This species is known only from fossil specimens preserved in amber - no living colonies exist.