Sphecomyrminae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Hymenopterida
Ordo: Hymenoptera
Subordo: Apocrita
Superfamilia: Formicoidea

Familia: Formicidae
Subfamilia: †Sphecomyrminae
Tribus: †Haidomyrmecini – †Sphecomyrmini – †Zigrasimeciini
Overview of genera

Baikuris – Boltonimecia – Cretomyrma – Dlusskyidris – Haidomyrmex – Haidomyrmodes – Haidoterminus – Sphecomyrma – Zigrasimecia
Name

Sphecomyrminae Wilson & Brown, 1967

Type genus: Sphecomyrma Wilson & Brown, 1967
References

Barden, P. & Grimaldi, D. 2013. A new genus of highly specialized ants in Cretaceous Burmese amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3681(4): 405–412. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3681.4.5 Reference page.
Borysenko, L. 2017. Description of a new genus of primitive ants from Canadian amber, with the study of relationships between stem- and crown-group ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insecta Mundi 0570, 1–57 PDF.
Engel, M.S. & Grimaldi, D.A. 2005. Primitive New Ants in Cretaceous Amber from Myanmar, New Jersey, and Canada (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). American Museum Novitates 3485: 1–24. DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2005)485[0001:PNAICA]2.0.CO;2
McKellar, R.C., Glasier, J.R.N. & Engel, M.S. 2011. A new trap-jawed ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Haidomyrmecini) from Canadian Late Cretaceous amber. Canadian Entomologist 145: 454–465 DOI: 10.4039/tce.2013.23
Perfilieva, K.S. 2011. New data on the wing morphology of the Cretaceous Sphecomyrminae ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Paleontologicheskii zhurnal 2011(3): 38–45. DOI: 10.1134/S0031030111030117 [in Russian, English translation in Paleontological journal 45(3): 275–283 (2011).]
Perrichot, V., Nel, A., Néraudeau, D., Lacau, S. & Guyot, T. 2008. New fossil ants in French Cretaceous amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Naturwissenschaften 95: 91–97. DOI: 10.1007/s00114-007-0302-7
Wilson, E.O., Carpenter, F.M. & Brown, W.L. 1967. The first Mesozoic ants, with the description of a new subfamily. Psyche 74: 1–19. DOI: 10.1155/1967/89604

Sphecomyrminae is an extinct subfamily of ants in family Formicidae known from a series of Cretaceous fossils found in North America, Europe, and Asia. Sphecomyrminae contains eight genera, divided into two tribes Sphecomyrmini and Zigrasimeciini. The tribe Sphecomyrmini contains the six genera Armania, Cretomyrma, Gerontoformica, Orapia, Pseudarmania and Sphecomyrma; while Zigrasimeciini contains Boltonimecia and Zigrasimecia. A number of taxa have been removed from the subfamily and placed either in other subfamilies or are now treated as incertae sedis in Formicidae.

Sphecomyrminae is the most basal of the Formicidae subfamilies, but has not been included in several phylogenetic studies of the family. Symplesiomorphies 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. 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.[1] Further review of the haidomyrmecins resulted in them being elevated to the separate subfamily Haidomyrmecinae 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
Sphecomyrma Wilson & Brown, 1967

The genus Sphecomyrmodes was formerly placed into Sphecomyrmini; however, in 2016, it was made a synonym of the stem group genus Gerontoformica, which was considered incertae sedis in Formicidae at the time.[2][3] The former tribe Zigrasimeciini is now considered to comprise the separate subfamily Zigrasimeciinae.[4]
References

Borysenko, L.H. (2017). "Description of a new genus of primitive ants from Canadian amber, with the study of relationships between stem- and crown-group ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Insecta Mundi. 570: 1–57.
Barden, P.; Grimaldi, D.A. (2016). "Adaptive radiation in socially advanced stem-group ants from the Cretaceous". Current Biology. 26 (4): 515–521. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.060. PMID 26877084.
Barden, P; Herhold, H. W.; Grimaldi, D. A. (2017). "A new genus of hell ants from the Cretaceous (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Haidomyrmecini) with a novel head structure". Systematic Entomology. 42 (4): 837–846. doi:10.1111/syen.12253.
Boudinot, Brendon E.; Perrichot, Vincent; Chaul, Júlio C. M. (2020-12-18). "†Camelosphecia gen. nov., lost ant-wasp intermediates from the mid-Cretaceous (Hymenoptera, Formicoidea)". ZooKeys (1005): 21–55. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1005.57629. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 7762752. PMID 33390754.