Platythyreini Emery, 1901

Boudinot, Brendon E., Richter, Adrian K., Hammel, Jörg U., Szwedo, Jacek, Bojarski, Błażej & Perrichot, Vincent, 2022, Genomic-Phenomic Reciprocal Illumination: Desyopone hereon gen. et sp. nov., an Exceptional Aneuretine-like Fossil Ant from Ethiopian Amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae), Insects 73 (796), pp. 1-19 : 7-8

Tribe Platythyreini Emery, 1901 .

Type genus. Platythyrea Roger, 1863 .

Male diagnosis. In addition to the ponerine plesiomorphies, male Platythyreini are distinguished by the following: (1) mandibles worker-like, shovel-shaped (=“triangular”) [plesiomorphy]; (2) face between antennal toruli distinctly raised, such that the antennal toruli are directed relatively laterad, and are situated dorsad a depression which may receive the antenna [synapomorphy, homoplastic in Ponerini ]; (3) antennal toruli usually close to or indenting the posterior margin of clypeus, toruli never distant from the posterior margin by more than half of one of their diameters [apomorphy]; (4) meso- and metatibiae with two spurs each [plesiomorphy]; (5) jugal lobe present [plesiomorphy]; (6) helcium not distinctly infraaxial, being axial to more-or-less axial, i.e., at about or just slightly below the midheight of abdominal segment III [plesiomorphy]; (7) abdominal segment IV with cinctus [plesiomorphy]; (8) cuticle pruinose [synapomorphy, homoplastic in Ponerini and some Proceratiinae].

Remarks. Because male Platythyreini have never been explicitly diagnosed, we found it necessary to provide a diagnosis in order to confirm the identification of the fossils in question. We observe that the mandibular form, tibial spur count, and cuticular sculpture of male Platythyreini are sufficient for identification at the global scale.