Lasius ophthalmicus

Introduction

Lasius ophthalmicus is an extinct ant species known only from Miocene fossil deposits in Radoboj, Croatia. Originally described by Oswald Heer in 1849 as Formica ophthalmica, with additional specimens described as Formica macrocephala, these fossils date to approximately 16-23 million years ago during the Early Miocene. The species was formally transferred to the genus Lasius in 2014 by Dlussky and Putyatina, who confirmed that F. macrocephala is a junior synonym of L. ophthalmicus . This is a genuine fossil species - it went extinct millions of years ago and no living colonies exist. It cannot be kept in captivity.