Sphecomyrminae is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

s in family Formicidae known from a series of

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

fossils found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. Sphecomyrminae contains eight genera, divided into two tribes Sphecomyrmini and Zigrasimeciini. The tribe Sphecomyrmini contains the six genera '' Armania'', '' Cretomyrma'', ''

Gerontoformica ''Gerontoformica'' is an extinct genus of stem-group ants. The genus contains thirteen described species known from Late Cretaceous fossils found in Asia and Europe. The species were described between 2004 and 2016, with a number of the specie ...

'', '' Orapia'', '' Pseudarmania'' and ''

Sphecomyrma ''Sphecomyrma'' is an extinct genus of ants which existed in the Cretaceous approximately 79 to 92 million years ago. The first specimens were collected in 1966, found embedded in amber which had been exposed in the cliffs of Cliffwood, New Jer ...

''; while Zigrasimeciini contains ''

Boltonimecia ''Boltonimecia'' is an extinct genus of ant in the formicid subfamily Zigrasimeciinae. The genus contains a single described species, ''Boltonimecia canadensis'', and is known from a single Late Cretaceous fossil which was found in Canada. The ...

'' and ''

Zigrasimecia ''Zigrasimecia'' is an extinct genus of ants which existed in the Cretaceous period approximately 98 million years ago. The first specimens were collected from Burmese amber in Kachin State, west of Myitkyina town in Myanmar. In 2013, palaeo ...

''. A number of taxa have been removed from the subfamily and placed either in other subfamilies or are now treated as ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...

'' in Formicidae. Sphecomyrminae is the most basal of the Formicidae subfamilies, but has not been included in several phylogenetic studies of the family.

Symplesiomorphies In phylogenetics, a plesiomorphy ("near form") and symplesiomorphy are synonyms for an ancestral character shared by all members of a clade, which does not distinguish the clade from other clades. Plesiomorphy, symplesiomorphy, apomorphy, an ...

of the subfamily include the structure of the antenna, which has a short basal segment and a flexible group of segments below the antenna tip. The petiole is low and rounded, with an unrestricted gaster and the presence of a

metapleural gland Metapleural glands (also called metasternal or metathoracic glands) are secretory glands that are unique to ants and basal in the evolutionary history of ants. They are responsible for the production of an antibiotic fluid that then collects in a ...

. The subfamily is characterized by three major synapomorphies, the short pedicel, a second flagellar segment that is double the length of the other antenna segments, and the loss of the apical end of the CuA veins in the wings of adult males.

Tribes and genera

A 2017 study recognized three tribes, Haidomyrmecini, Sphecomyrmini, and Zigrasimeciini and included the genera formerly placed in Armaniidae within the tribe Sphecomyrmini. Further review of the haidomyrmecins resulted in them being elevated to the separate subfamily

Haidomyrmecinae Haidomyrmecinae, occasionally called Hell ants, are an extinct subfamily of ants (Formicidae) known from Cretaceous fossils found in ambers of North America, Europe, and Asia, spanning the late Albian to Campanian, around 100 to 79 million years ...

and removed from Sphecomyrminae. *Sphecomyrminae Wilson & Brown, 1967 **Sphecomyrmini Wilson, Carpenter & Brown, 1967 ***'' Armania'' Dlussky, 1983 ***'' Baikuris'' Dlussky, 1987 ***'' Cretomyrma'' Dlussky, 1975 ***'' Dlusskyidris'' Bolton, 1994 ***'' Orapia'' Dlussky, Brothers & Rasnitsyn, 2004 ***'' Pseudarmania'' Dlussky, 1983 ***''

'' Wilson & Brown, 1967 The genus '' Sphecomyrmodes'' was formerly placed into Sphecomyrmini; however, in 2016, it was made a synonym of the stem group genus ''

'', which was considered ''incertae sedis'' in Formicidae at the time. The former tribe Zigrasimeciini is now considered to comprise the separate subfamily

Zigrasimeciinae Zigrasimeciinae is a subfamily of ants, known from the Cretaceous period, originally named as the tribe Zigrasimeciini within the subfamily Sphecomyrminae by Borysenko, 2017, it was elevated to full subfamily in 2020. It contains three described ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3966629 †Sphecomyrminae Cretaceous insects Fossil ant taxa Turonian first appearances Campanian extinctions