Lasius punctulatus

Introduction

Lasius punctulatus is an extinct ant species that lived approximately 44-49 million years ago during the Late Eocene period. These ants were preserved in Baltic amber, making them known only from fossil records. The queens measured 3.5-4.5mm in body length, making them smaller than related species like Lasius schiefferdeckeri (4-6mm). The species has a distinctive dense punctation pattern on its body and abundant standing hairs, which distinguishes it from similar species . This ant was originally described by Mayr in 1868 from Baltic amber specimens and was later synonymized with L. pumilus before being revived as a valid species by Dlussky in 2011 based on morphological differences in pilosity . This is a fossil species that cannot be kept in captivity. There are no living colonies of Lasius punctulatus - they went extinct millions of years ago. This caresheet exists only for educational purposes to document what we know about this extinct species from the fossil record.