6 
Psyche 
[March 
Santa Cruz, has informed one of us (F.M.C.) that she has tenta- 
tively concluded from her infrared studies on resins and ambers that 
most of the Atlantic Coastal Plain amber (including that from Cliff- 
wood beach) was probably produced by taxodiaceous trees, very likely 
Sequoiadendron or Metasequoia . 5 
Among the insects in the amber which Mr. and Mrs. Frey col- 
lected at Cliffwood beach are two unmistakable worker ants. These 
specimens have fulfilled many of our fondest speculations about what 
a Mesozoic ant might be like, and thus they demonstrate to us anew 
the predictive power of phylogenetic reasoning (See Plate 4). We 
first present their formal description as a new subfamily, genus, and 
species and then provide a discussion of their phylogenetic significance. 
The other insects in the amber, all Diptera, will be turned over to 
appropriate specialists for subsequent study and description. 
Family Formicidae 
Sphecomyrminae Wilson and Brown, new subfamily 
Diagnosis (worker) : Mandibles peculiarly wasp-like, short, nar- 
row, curvilinear, bidentate. Antennae 12-segmented, with a well- 
formed but relatively short scape and an exceptionally long (for an 
ant), almost filiform funiculus. The second funicular segment is 
longer than any other funicular segment, a rather unusual feature 
apparently shared with N othomyrmecia (some higher ants have a 
long second funicular fusion segment, e.g., workers and females of 
Orectognathus and males of most Tetramorium and allied genera). 
Compound eyes large, convex, placed near the middle of the sides 
of the head. Ocelli present. 
Body form that of a very primitive formicid. Alitrunk (= thorax 
+ propodeum) slender, in form very much like that of Methocha 
malayana (Fig. 3), M. stygia, and some other species of that genus 
(Reid, 1941: figs. 26-27; Pagden, 1949). Sutures between pro- and 
mesothorax, and between meso- and metathorax, both complete, pos- 
sibly movable. Mesonotom long and slender, with distinct, convex 
scutum and scutellum separated by a rather distinct axillary re- 
gion. Metathoracic spiracles present, situated just below the limits 
of the scutellum on each side near its posterior margin, as in 
5 We are indebted to Mr. James Doyle of Harvard University for his 
assistance with this paleobotanical literature. 
