Azteca alpha

Introduction

Azteca alpha is an extinct ant species known only from fossils preserved in Dominican amber from the Miocene epoch, approximately 20 million years ago . These ants were incredibly abundant in the ancient forests of what is now the Dominican Republic, making up roughly 30 to 50 percent of all ant fossils found in these deposits . They belong to the genus Azteca, which still exists today as tree-dwelling ants throughout the Neotropics. The most remarkable aspect of this fossil species is the preserved evidence of its behavior. One amber piece contains nine workers together with twenty-three scale insects, providing the earliest known proof of ants tending these sap-sucking bugs for honeydew . This discovery shows that the complex relationship between Azteca ants and scale insects was already well established by the Miocene epoch.