Formica oculata

Introduction

Formica oculata is an extinct ant species known only from fossil specimens preserved in Miocene-era deposits from Radoboj, Croatia. The species was originally described in 1849 by Oswald Heer based on a single specimen, with subsequent research revealing the original specimen was a gyne (queen) rather than a male as initially identified. Only fossil imprints exist, and the preservation quality is too poor to confidently place the species within any known Formica group. This species existed approximately 20 million years ago during the Early Miocene period and has no living representatives.