Talk:Prionomyrmex macrops

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Article Grading: The following comments were left by the quality and importance raters: (edit · refresh) Nothomyrmecia or Prionomyrmex? I find it worth noting that (for such an obscure species, probably mainly of interest to specialists) Google finds *MANY* more cites of one than the other: Results 1 - 10 of about 3,120 for "Nothomyrmecia macrops" Results 1 - 10 of about 133 for "Prionomyrmex macrops" I don't have the time to research authoritative sources myself and come to my own conclusion, but I certainly observe that there seem to be "authoritative" (at least, authoritative-looking!) websites on each side of the nomenclature, e.g... N. macrops: http://www.ento.csiro.au/science/ants/nothomyrmeciinae/nothomyrmecia/nothomyrmecia.htm http://data.gbif.org/species/13713591 P. macrops: http://atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu:210/hymenoptera/nomenclator.name_entry?text_entry=nothomyrmecia%20macrops 67.188.180.33 (talk) 14:41, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

What is this story of bringing back an older version by merging again the two subfamilies Myrmeciinae and Prionomyrmecinae into one and reviving Nothomyrmecia as a valid genus? Baroni Urbani (2005) separates the two subfamilies that are characterized respectively by four (Prionomyrmecinae) and seven (Myrmeciinae) synapomorphies. He shows also the inconsistency of the characters used to separate Nothomyrmecia from its senior synonym, Prionomyrmex. There are no subsequent studies on the subject, even if Archibald et al. (2006) still adopt the wrong classification without justifying their attitude. Archibald et al. (2006), however, had no other alternative since no one of the subfamilial characters listed by Baroni Urbani (2005) is visible among their compression fossils.

WIKIPEDIA is not the place of personal opinions even if they were justified, which is not this case.

I’m re-correcting the relative entries until proof of the contrary.

References:

Archibald, S. B., Cover, S. P., Moreau, C. S. 2006. Bulldog ants of the Eocene Okanagan Highlands and history of the subfamily (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmeciinae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 99: 487-523. Baroni Urbani, C. 2005. Phylogeny and biogeography of the ant subfamily Prionomyrmecinae (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Annali del Museo Civico di Stortia Naturale “G. Doria” 96: 581-595. Sirolo 15:20, 5 March 2007 (UTC)