Proceratiinae is a subfamily of

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 the

poneromorph subfamilies In ants, the traditional subfamily Ponerinae has been subdivided into several Poneromorph subfamilies, with several former tribes now elevated to subfamily rank. According to this analysis, some ponerine groups may be more closely related to other s ...

group, with three extant genera, of which most are

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

or subtropical, although overall distribution is worldwide.

Identification

The ants are relatively small to medium in size, with

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

generally containing less than 100 individuals. They are similar to

Ponerinae Ponerinae is a subfamily of ants in the Poneromorph subfamilies group, with about 1,600 species in 47 extant genera, including '' Dinoponera gigantea'' - one of the world's largest species of ant. Mated workers have replaced the queen as the ...

, except the promesonotal suture is fused and the frontal lobes are elevated (rather than transverse) and frequently reduced. In addition, the antennal sockets are exposed in a full-face (frontal) view of the head, and in most species, abdominal

tergite A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'mar ...

4 is much enlarged and vaulted, with abdominal sternite 4 being correspondingly reduced in size.

Systematics

The subfamily was created in 2003 when Barry Bolton divided the

subfamily into six subfamilies. Proceratiinae is further divided into the tribes Proceratiini and Probolomyrmecini, and contains three extant genera and one extinct genus. *Proceratiinae Emery, 1895 ** Proceratiini Emery, 1895 *** ''

Discothyrea ''Discothyrea'' is a genus of small ants in the subfamily Proceratiinae. The genus is distributed in the tropics and subtropics throughout the world, where they usually nest in rotten wood, in the leaf litter, or under stones. Little is known abo ...

'' Roger, 1863 *** ''

Proceratium ''Proceratium'' is a rare genus of ants in the subfamily Proceratiinae. It is the type genus of the tribe Proceratiini, which in addition to ''Proceratium'' consists of two even rarer genera: the extant ''Discothyrea'' and the fossil genus ''Bra ...

'' Roger, 1863 *** †''

Bradoponera ''Bradoponera'' is an extinct genus of ant in the Formicidae subfamily Proceratiinae, and is one of four genera of the subfamily. The genus contains four described species ''Bradoponera electrina'', ''Bradoponera meieri'', ''Bradoponera similis ...

'' Mayr, 1868 ** Probolomyrmecini Perrault, 2000 *** ''

Probolomyrmex ''Probolomyrmex'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Proceratiinae. The genus is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. The ants are very rare, and are rarely collected in the field, but they appear to be nesting in the leaf litter ...

'' Mayr, 1901

References

* *

External links

* Ant subfamilies Taxa named by Carlo Emery {{ant-stub