Two ants (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) from the Late Pliocene of Willershausen, Germany, with a nomenclatural note on the genus Camponotites

Abstract

Two species of the genus Camponotites (Formicidae, Formicinae) are described from the Late Pliocene deposits of Willershausen, Lower Saxony, northern Germany: C. silvestris Steinbach, 1967, and C. steinbachi n. sp. The generic name Camponotites has been established for fossil (Tertiary) ants independently by Steinbach (Bericht der Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft zu Hannover 111:95–102, 1967) and by Dlussky (Trudy paleontologiceskogo instituta, akademiâ nauk SSSR, 1981), each for materials of different stratigraphical and geographical origin. Though poorly described, Camponotites Steinbach, 1967, and the single included (type) species C. silvestris Steinbach, 1967 (a monotypic species from the Late Pliocene of Willershausen), were based upon indication in the sense of the ICZN. Therefore, both the generic and specific names are valid and available. Camponotites Dlussky, 1981 (and its type species C. macropterus Dlussky, 1981) were certainly introduced correctly and are therefore available, too; but due to its homonymy the generic name is not valid. The revision shows that in this rare case both generic names are not only homonyms but also synonyms.