1985] 
Wilson — Dominican amber ants. 2 
13 
Holotype and paratvpe workers. Well-preserved specimens in 
two separate amber pieces purchased from separate sources in the 
Dominican Republic. The material enclosing the ants is typical in 
quality and inclusions of Dominican amber, and the two pieces were 
in local collections containing other ant species previously estab- 
lished as typical of the Dominican amber fauna. Although the exact 
provenance of the specimens is unknown, Mr. J. Brodzinsky of 
Amberica Inc. states {in litt.) that “90-95%” of the material in which 
the Neivamyrmex ectopus holotype originated came from the Palo 
Alto and La Toca mines, near Santiago. The two types have been 
deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Uni- 
versity, among the contemporary Neivamyrmex species. 
Holotype (Fig. 1): Head Width 0.62 mm, Head Length (from the 
level of the center of the occiput to the level of the center of the 
anterior clypeal border) 0.72 mm. Scape Length 0.53 mm. Paratvpe 
(Fig. 2): Head Width 0.42 mm. Scape Length 0.30 mm, Pronotal 
Width 0.28 mm. The paratype is smaller and has proportionately 
shorter and thicker scapes, but otherwise corresponds well to the 
holotype. 
Relationships 
In order to interpret the status and possible phylogenetic relation- 
ships of the amber species, I considered all of the 61 contemporary 
Neivamyrmex species known from the worker caste. Of these, 51 
were examined directly from type and reliably determined series, 
and the remaining 10 were characterized in the essential characters 
from the reviews by Borgmeier (1955) and Watkins (1976, 1977, 
1982). 
The following 8 characters visible in N. ectopus were found to 
vary considerably among the 61 contemporary species: size, shape 
and length of the scape; shape of the head, especially the occipital 
border; shape of the alitrunk, especially the profile of the propo- 
deum; shape of the petiole, including the subpetiolar process; shape 
of the postpetiole; body sculpturing; and overall pilosity. Six species 
were found to resemble ectopus closely or identically in 6 of the 
characters (no species matched in 7 or all 8). These are listed below, 
along with an indication of the two traits in which they differ from 
ectopus : 
