Tapinoma glaesaria

Introduction

Tapinoma glaesaria is an extinct ant species preserved in amber, originally described from Eocene Rovno amber of Ukraine and also known from Miocene amber of Peru . As a fossil species, it dates back approximately 44-50 million years ago. The genus Tapinoma belongs to the subfamily Dolichoderinae, which are characterized by a defense mechanism of exuding sticky, foul-smelling secretions from an anal gland, rather than using a stinger. This species was originally described as Tapinoma aberrans in 2002,but that name was already in use for a living Madagascar species, so it was renamed T. glaesaria in 2019 - the name comes from the Latin 'glaesarius' meaning 'of amber' . IMPORTANT: This is an extinct fossil species. No living colonies exist, and these ants cannot be kept in captivity. This caresheet exists only for informational purposes about the species' taxonomy and the genus Tapinoma.