"LIVING FOSSILS"
DISCOVERY OF ANTS AMATEUR COLLECTOR'S WORK The discovery of a "living fossil" among Australian ants is announced from the Australian National Museum at Melbourne. The new species is regarded by entomologists as equal in importance to the platypus, the "living fossil" among mammals, which aroused world-wide interest when its discovery was announced more than 100 years ago. In structure, it is much more primitive than any living species known previously, and it is almost identical with a fossil ancestor of the ant family. Prionomyrmex, which probably became extinct before man appeared on the earth. Prionomyrmex has been found as a' fossil in Baltic amber. The 'new specimens may yet prove to be Prionomyrmex itself. If not, they are very closely related to it. They are three-quarters of an inch long. They were sent by an amateur collector in Western Australia. It is hoped that further research will reveal queen ants, larvae, and pupae in the same locality near Perth.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21471, 20 April 1933, Page 9
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161"LIVING FOSSILS" New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21471, 20 April 1933, Page 9
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