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Afropone
''Afropone'' is an extinct genus of ant in the formicid subfamily Ponerinae, and is currently unplaced in any of the tribes of that subfamily. The genus contains two described species, ''Afropone oculata'' and ''Afropone (?) orapa''. ''Afropone'' is known from a group of Upper Cretaceous fossils, which were found at Orapa in the Central District of Botswana.
== History and classification ==
''Afropone oculata'' was described from two fossils, the holotype specimen number BP/2/28072a/2, identified as a female, and an additional poorly preserved fossil, number BP/2/26631-17. ''Afropone (?) orapa'' was based on a single holotype male, specimen BP/2/26628/1, and tentatively placed into the genus based on overall morphology.〔 The specimens are mostly complete with variation in the quantity of detail, and are preserved as compression fossils in shale. The shales and mudstones of the Orapa site were rapidly deposited in a crater lake formed as the result of a large volcanic eruption in the Cretaceous. The sediment originated as an epiclastic kimberlite and derives from rapid weathering and decomposition of the sides of the kimberlite crater. Of the four major sedimentation types that have been observe at Orapa, fossils are found in only two, the granular mass flows and the fine-grained sediments: woody debris fossils are found in the granular mass flows, but well-preserved fossils are only recovered in the fine-grained sediments. The fossil-bearing stratum was uncovered during mining of the underlying diamond-bearing rocks at the site. Radiometric dating of the kimberlite pipe reported in 1977 gave an age in the general range of .〔 Further dating utilizing zircon crystals reported on in 2004 gave more defined age of approximately placing the date in the Turonian age of the late Cretaceous.〔
The fossils were first studied by Russian paleontologists Gennady M. Dlussky and Alexandr Rasnitsyn with South African paleontologist Denis Brothers. Their 2004 type description of the new genus and species were published in the journal ''Insect Systematics and Evolution''.〔 The genus name ''Afropone'' is a combination of Africa, where the fossil was found, and ''Ponera'', the type species of the subfamily Ponerinae. The specific epithet ''oculata'', a derivation of the Latin word ''oculus'' meaning ''eye'' is a reference to the large eyes of the species. The specific epithet ''orapa'' is derived from the fossil locality name.〔
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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