Cephalotes ventriosus

Introduction

Cephalotes ventriosus is an extinct species of turtle ant known only from a single fossil worker preserved in Mexican amber from the Oligocene-Miocene period . The worker measured 6.10mm in total length and was described by de Andrade and Baroni Urbani in 1999 . This species is notable for its remarkably globose (big-bellied) gaster, from which it derives its name 'ventriosus' (Latin for 'big-bellied'). It also had distinctive pronotal lamellae that were incised anteriorly and broad, truncate teeth on the mesonotum . As a fossil species, no living colonies exist, and this ant cannot be kept in captivity.