A RESTUDY OF TWO ANTS 
FROM THE SICILIAN AMBER 
By William L. Brown, Jr. 1 and Frank M. Carpenter 2 
Introduction 
The ants of the (presumably Miocene) Sicilian Amber were mono- 
graphed by Emery (1891), and, except for corrections published by 
Emery himself (1913), this faunule has not again been subjected to 
critical study. Since 1891, of course, formicid taxonomy has under- 
gone radical changes, some of them affecting genera found in this 
amber. Ectatomma gracile, for example, was described from a male 
specimen that would not today be placed in Ectatomma , but in- 
stead, as based on Emery’s description ( 1 89 1 :57 1 ) and figures (PI. 1 , 
fig. 1, 2) is assignable to Gnamptogenys (Kugler and Brown, in 
prep.). 
It is not our purpose here, however, to review all of Emery’s 
Sicilian Amber ants. Rather, we want to present the results of our 
study of just two of his type specimens that are particularly signifi- 
cant for ant taxonomy. The specimens, in two separate pieces of 
amber belonging to the Museo Mineralogico dell’Universita degli 
Studi, Bologna, Italy, were lent through the kindness of Prof. 
Gianfranco Simboli, Director of the Museo Mineralogico, who has 
our thanks. The new preparation of the specimens and their photo- 
graphs were done by FMC, while WLB is responsible for the 
taxonomic interpretation of the material. 
Hypopomyrmex bombiccii 
Emery, 1891:574-575, pi. 1, fig. 10, 11, alate queen. 
This specimen (figs. 1, 2) is a badly collapsed winged queen 
closely involved in the same piece of amber with a worker specimen 
of Cataulacus planiceps. Emery, in his fig. 10, and especially fig. 11, 
portrays the H. bombiccii specimen as a Strumigenys-like individ- 
1 Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853. Study 
aided by National Science Foundation Grant GB-31662. 
2 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Study 
aided by National Science Foundation Grant DEB78-09947, F.M. Carpenter, Prin- 
cipal Investigator. 
Manuscript received by the editor May 30, 1979. 
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