Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40870594›Full record

ArticleInsects2025

Beauty or the Beast? A Puzzling Modification of the Clypeus and Mandibles on the Eocene Ant.

Dmitry Zharkov, Dmitry Dubovikoff, Evgeny Abakumov

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Insects, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Dmitry ZharkovDepartment of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Biology, St. Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya nab, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia.ORCID 0000-0003-1204-1304
Dmitry DubovikoffDepartment of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Biology, St. Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya nab, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia.ORCID 0000-0002-0931-6277
Evgeny AbakumovDepartment of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Biology, St. Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya nab, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia.ORCID 0000-0002-5248-9018

Funding

St Petersburg University 123042000071-8
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Some Cretaceous ants belonging to the stem group of Formicidae exhibit bizarre morphology. This wide range of unusual adaptive features is primarily related to the mouthparts and clypeus. The researchers were perplexed by their specific ecology, as modern ant lineages do not exhibit anything similar. Here, we report and describe a new genus based on an extraordinary and mysterious alate ant from Late Eocene Baltic amber. Undoubtedly, the new ant is classified within the subfamily Formicinae (one of the crown groups), yet it displays a highly specialised morphology and an unusual array of features that are not observed in any extant ant lineages. Neither recent nor extinct ants have such a combination of features. While the exact phylogenetic placement of the new ant remains uncertain, we offer a discussion of its potential affinities based on our constrained phylogenetic analyses. We propose that †

Indexed as

3D modelBaltic ambercrown antFormicidaeµCT

Identifiers

PMID40870594
PMCPMC12386699

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.