page_title: Pachycondyla succinea
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Pachycondyla succinea / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Closeup view of a Pachycondyla succinea male head. Specimen BMNHP29202; British Museum of Natural History Baltic Amber, Middle Eocene; Samland Peninsula?, Baltic Region, Europe.
context_page_description: Pachycondyla succinea is an extinct species of ant in the formicid subfamily Ponerinae described from fossils found in Europe. P. petrosa is one of three middle Eocene Pachycondyla species found in Baltic amber.
context_section_description: The queens have a body length of 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in), with dense pitting along all of the body excluding the gaster, which is smooth.  There are hairs spread evenly over the body with a mix of decumbent, erect, and partially erect hairs.  The flat laying and partially erect hairs of the gaster are longer than the space between adjacent hairs.  The head is rectangular in outline with distinctly developed rear corners, a concave rear margin, and small distinct ocelli.  The compound eyes, slightly bulged out with oval outlines, are placed far forward on the head, shortening the gena  to shorter than the eye diameter.  The antennae are composed of 12 segments, with the basal and tip segments longer than wide, while the rest are shorter than wide.  The bottom most segment, the scape, is longer than the other antenna segments, but does not reach the rear edge of the head. There are six teeth on the chewing face of the mandibles, and no external tooth on the outer margin.
  The males are smaller than the queens, with a total body length between 3.5–4.5 mm (0.14–0.18 in) and an overall shiny exoskeleton.  There are longitudinal ridges on the propodeum sides, while the petiole is smooth. There is dense pitting on the head and sparser pitting is present on the gaster and mesosoma.  Many upright hairs are found on the gaster, petiole scale, upper surface of the mesosoma, and on the head.  Decumbent hairs are present over the whole exoskeleton, showing most distinctly on the gaster, where the hairs are "several times" longer than that of the spacing between each hair.  The head is rounded in outline, with a convex rear edge and no distinct rear corners, but instead has a slight expansion of the anterior section and no frontal ridges are present.  The eyes are kidney shaped, slightly bulging, and large, placed far forward on the head.  The ocelli are also large, but smaller than the distance between each of the three.
caption: Closeup of male head
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