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Ants

Ants
Temporal range: 100–0 Ma
Cenomanian – Recent
Fire ants 01.jpg
A group of Fire ants.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Superfamily: Vespoidea
Family: Formicidae
Latreille, 1809
Type species
Formica rufa
Linnaeus, 1761
Subfamilies


Martialinae

Leptanillinae

Amblyoponinae

Paraponerinae

Agroecomyrmecinae

Ponerinae

Proceratiinae

Ecitoninae‡

Aenictinae‡

Dorylini

Aenictogitoninae‡

Cerapachyinae‡*

Leptanilloidinae‡

Dolichoderinae

Aneuretinae

Pseudomyrmecinae

Myrmeciinae

Ectatomminae

Heteroponerinae

Myrmicinae

Formicinae

A phylogeny of the extant ant subfamilies.
*Cerapachyinae is paraphyletic
‡ The previous dorylomorph subfamilies were synonymized under Dorylinae by Brady et al. in 2014

Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the Cretaceous period, about 99 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than 12,500 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their elbowed antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.


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Wikipedia

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