# Cephalotes maya
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{{Short description|Extinct species of ant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image =
| image_caption =
| genus = Cephalotes
| species = maya
| authority = De Andrade, 1999
}}
'''''Cephalotes maya''''' is an extinct[{{cite web |title=†Cephalotes maya de Andrade 1999 (ant) |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=256723 |website=Fossilworks |access-date=17 December 2021}}] species of [arboreal](/source/arboreal) [ant](/source/ant) of the genus ''[Cephalotes](/source/Cephalotes)'', characterized by an odd shaped head and the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they're on. Giving their name also as [gliding ant](/source/gliding_ant)s.[Latreille, P.A. (1802). Histoire naturelle, generale et particuliere des crustaces et des insectes. Vol. 3. ''F. Dufart, Paris''. 467 pp. [http://research.amnh.org/entomology/social_insects/ants/publications/0242/0242.pdf PDF]][{{Cite journal | last1 = Yanoviak | first1 = S. P. | last2 = Munk | first2 = Y. | last3 = Dudley | first3 = R. | doi = 10.1093/icb/icr006 | title = Evolution and Ecology of Directed Aerial Descent in Arboreal Ants | journal = Integrative and Comparative Biology | volume = 51 | issue = 6 | pages = 944–956 | year = 2011 | pmid = 21562023| doi-access = free }}] The species was probably native of the [Mexican](/source/Mexico) state of [Chiapas](/source/Chiapas), however, lack of more evidence makes this uncertain.[{{cite book |last1=De Andrade |first1=Maria |last2=Urbani |first2=Cesare |title=Diversity and adaptation in the ant genus Cephalotes, past and present (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) |location=Basel |page=526 |url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-102758 |access-date=22 January 2019}}] Their larger and flatter legs, a trait common with other members of the genus ''Cephalotes'', gave them their gliding abilities.[{{cite book |last1=De Andrade |first1=Maria |last2=Urbani |first2=Cesare |title=Diversity and adaptation in the ant genus Cephalotes, past and present (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) |date=1999 |publisher=Stuttgarter Beitraege zur Naturkunde Serie B (Geologie und Palaeontologie) |pages=[https://archive.org/details/biostor-102758/page/n435 432]-433 |url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-102758 |access-date=29 January 2019}}]
The species was first given a description and a classification by Brazilian [entomologist](/source/Entomology) [Maria de Andrade](/source/Maria_de_Andrade) in 1999. It was subsequently described in ''Diversity and Adaptation in the Ant Genus Cephalotes Past and Present (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)'' as a [sister group](/source/sister_group) to ''[Cephalotes foliaceus](/source/Cephalotes_foliaceus)''[{{cite book |last1=de Andrade |first1=Maria |last2=Urbani |first2=Cesare |title=Diversity and adaptation in the ant genus Cephalotes, past and present (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) |location=Basel |url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-102758 |access-date=22 January 2019}}]
==Discovery==
''Cephalotes maya'' was probably native of Chiapas, although lack of sufficient evidence makes this uncertain. It was discovered fossilized in [amber](/source/amber) extracted in Mexico and is dated between the [Burdigalian](/source/Burdigalian) and [Langhian](/source/Langhian) ages of the [Miocene](/source/Miocene), which means between 20.44 and 13,82 million years ago.