Protopone is an extinct genus of ants in the formicid subfamily Ponerinae described from fossils found in Europe and Asia.

[1][2] When first described, Protopone was known from a single fossil insect included in a transparent chunk of Sakhalin amber.

When the fossil was described it was part of the amber collections housed in the Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Further research has revised the amber, which originates from the Lower Due Formation, to be of Middle Eocene age.

The amber fossil was first studied by paleoentomologist Gennady Dlussky of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with his 1988 type description for the species was published in Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal.

In 2012 an additional six species were identified from compression-impression fossils preserved in layers of soft sedimentary rock.

The area is a preserved maar lake which initially formed approximately 47 million years ago as the result of volcanic explosions.

The fossils were first described by Gennady Dlussky and Sonja Wedmann in a paper on the poneromorph ants of Messel.

[1] Protopone is one of five extinct genera from three subfamilies which have species described from Messel Formation fossils by Dlussky and Wedmann in 2012.

The widely placed antennae sockets and mandibles that are about 65% of the head length preclude placement into Pachycondyla, Cephalopone, Cyrtopone, and Messelpone.

The body length of the holotype is 13.7 mm (0.54 in) with a node shaped petiole and a mesosoma that is 1.3 times longer then the head.

The two described gynes are preserved in lateral view, with the holotype being mostly complete and paratype specimen missing the head.

The head is covered with a distinct sculpturing of small pits, and the front edge of the clypeus is rounded as in other Protopone species.

The scape is shorter, not extending past the rear margin of the head capsule and the eyes are located closer to the mandibles than in the other species.