Myrmeciinae | |
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Myrmecia gulosa | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Suborder: | Apocrita |
Superfamily: | Vespoidea |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Myrmeciinae Emery, 1877 |
tribes & species | |
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The Myrmeciinae is a subfamily of the Formicidae that was once found worldwide but is 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, however 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 nine species were described in 2006 by Archibald, Cover and Moreau from the Early Eocene of Denmark Canada, and Washington.[3]