Myrmeciinae Explained

Myrmeciinae should not be confused with Myrmicinae.

Myrmeciinae is a subfamily of the Formicidae, ants once found worldwide but now restricted to Australia and New Caledonia. This subfamily is one of several ant subfamilies which possess gamergates, female worker ants which are able to mate and reproduce, thus sustaining the colony after the loss of the queen.^[1] The Myrmeciinae subfamily was formerly composed of only one genus, Myrmecia, but the subfamily was redescribed by Ward & Brady in 2003 to include two tribes and four genera.^[2] An additional three genera, one form genus, and 9 species were described in 2006 from the Early Eocene of Denmark, Canada, and Washington.^[3] Subsequently an additional fossil genus was moved from the family Rhopalosomatidae in 2018, and a new genus was described in 2021.

Tribes and genera

• • • Tribe Myrmeciini Myrmecia
    • Tribe Prionomyrmecini Nothomyrmecia
  • †Prionomyrmex
• Tribe incertae sedis^[4]
  • †Archimyrmex
  • †Avitomyrmex
  • †Macabeemyrma
  • †Propalosoma
  • †Tyrannomecia
  • †Ypresiomyrma
• Form genus (for species belonging to the subfamily but not identifiable to current genera)
  • †Myrmeciites

The Late Aptian Crato Formation genus Cariridris was sometimes included in Myrmeciinae, but it has is now usually classified within Ampulicidae. Two undescribed specimens in the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart are known, suggesting a myrmeciine affinity.^[5]

Classification

The subfamily Myrmeciinae was established by Italian entomologist Carlo Emery in 1877 under the original name Myrmeciidae.^[6] It was named after the genus Myrmecia, the type genus of the subfamily.^[7] In 1882, the subfamily was treated as a tribe by French entomologist Ernest André within the former ant family Myrmicidae, but it would later be moved to the family Poneridae in 1905.^{[8] [9]}

See also

• List of Myrmecia species

Notes and References

1. Dietemann. Vincent . Peeters. Christian. Hölldobler. Bert. 2004. Gamergates in the Australian ant subfamily Myrmeciinae. Naturwissenschaften. 91. 9. 432–435. 2004NW.....91..432D. 10.1007/s00114-004-0549-1. 15278223.
2. Ward. Philip S.. Brady. Seán G.. Phylogeny and biogeography of the ant subfamily Myrmeciinae (Hymenoptera : Formicidae). Invertebrate Systematics. 2003. 17. 3. 361–386. 10.1071/IS02046.
3. Archibald . S.B. . Cover . S. P. . Moreau . C. S. . Bulldog Ants of the Eocene Okanagan Highlands and History of the Subfamily (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmeciinae) . Annals of the Entomological Society of America . 2006 . 99 . 3 . 487–523 . 10.1603/0013-8746(2006)99[487:BAOTEO]2.0.CO;2 .
4. Mera-Rodríguez . D. . Jourdan . H. . Ward . P.S. . Shattuck . S. . Cover . S.P. . Wilson . E.O. . Rabeling . C. . 2023 . Biogeography and evolution of social parasitism in Australian Myrmecia bulldog ants revealed by phylogenomics . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 186 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107825. free . 37244505 .
5. Book: Martill . D.M. . Bechly . G. . Loveridge . R.F. . 2007 . The Crato fossil beds of Brazil: window into an ancient world. . Cambridge University Press..,
6. Emery. Carlo. Saggio di un ordinamento naturale dei Mirmicidei e considerazioni sulla filogenesi delle formiche. Bullettino della Società Entomologica Italiana. 1877. 9. 67–83. 10.5281/zenodo.25408.
7. Reiskind. Jonathan. Request for a ruling to correct homonymy in names of the family-groups based on Myrmecia (Insecta) and Myrmecium (Arachnida). Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 1983. 40. 43–44.
8. André. Ernest. Les fourmis (continuation). Species des Hyménoptères d'Europe et d'Algérie. 1882. 2. 233–280. 10.5281/zenodo.27099.
9. Ashmead. William H.. William Harris Ashmead. A skeleton of a new arrangement of the families, subfamilies, tribes and genera of the ants, or the superfamily Formicoidea. The Canadian Entomologist. 1905. 37. 11. 381–384. 10.4039/Ent37381-11.