Ant Taxonomy SubFamily- Ponerinae

Ant Mania > Family > SubFamily (Ponerinae)

About SubFamily Ponerinae

Ponerinae

Ponerinae is a subfamily of ants with some 1,600 species in 47 genera, including Dinoponera gigantea, one of the largest ant species in the world.

They are easier to identify than other subfamilies because of a constriction in the gaster (abdomen).

Caracterization

Clypeus generally wide; antennal insertions, with few exceptions covered by frontal lobes; compound eyes usually present, occasionally atrophied or absent; promesonotal suture usually present and flexible, sometimes present and immobile or absent; metapleural gland opening directed laterally or posteriorly, the orifice uncovered and not covered by a cuticle layer; propodeal lobes normally present; petiole one-segmented and usually with a constriction between abdominal segments 3 and 4; helcius sternites small, not visible in lateral view; abdominal spiracle of each segment posterior to the postpetiole hidden by the posterior margin of the anterior segment, as the gaster is not extended; abdominal tergum and sternum 3 and 4 fused, pygidium of 7th abdominal segment usually simple, without a margin of spines, at most one or two coarse spines; hypopygidum simple, rarely with a row of denticles; stinger present, usually large and well developed.

Biology

They are predatory ants per excellence, but also take advantage of sources rich in carbohydrates, such as nectaries or Homoptera exudates. Predation can be general, but there are also spectacular specializations such as Thaumatomyrmex. Nuptial flights generally occur with the first rainfall of the rainy season. The queen who starts a nest must hunt prey to feed her young. To nest, they usually take advantage of pre-existing cavities, and the population rarely exceeds a few hundred. The workers go out to hunt and forage individually, but occasionally, they hunt in small groups, as is the case of some Gnamptogenys specialized in the predation of polydesmid diplopods. By bringing food to the nest, the workers transport the larvae to the prey for them to devour. Larvae typically spin a cocoon to pupate, but there are some exceptions, such as Simopelta, where the pupa is left naked. The queen carries out reproduction, rarely polygyny or reproduction by fertile workers (gamergates) as in Dinoponera (Hölldobler and Wilson 1990).

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ponerinae

They are predatory ants per excellence, but they also benefit from sources rich in carbohydrates, such as nectaries or Homoptera exudates. Predation can be general, but there are also spectacular specializations such as Thaumatomyrmex. Nuptial flights generally occur with the first rainfall of the rainy season. The queen who starts a nest must hunt prey to feed her young. To nest, they usually take advantage of pre-existing cavities, and the population rarely exceeds a few hundred. The workers go out to hunt and forage.

Phylogeny

Among the ants, this group has always been considered primitive, both for some aspects of its morphology and also for its behavior. In the first aspect we can mention the monomorphism between workers, that is, there are no polymorphic ponens (except in Megaponera) as in the case of genera of other subfamilies such as Atta, Pheidole or Camponotus.

It is also possible to mention the little morphological differentiation between worker and queen. At first glance, it isn’t easy to recognize the queen when one discovers a nest of ponies. The fact that the ponin queens, when they found a nest, have to go out to hunt prey, exposing themselves to danger, is also considered more primitive than in the case of queens with food reserves that allow them to remain cloistered. This characterization based on primitive features does not help to visualize a phylogeny, and it is necessary to find shared derived characters to unite the group members. Nicolás Kusnezov (1955) was the first to recognize the “secondary” character derived from the fusion of the fourth abdominal segment in the ponerinas and its phylogenetic importance, but his finding went unnoticed.

Description and identification

They can be recognized from other sublineages by maintaining a single node petiole with an indentation before the second gastral part. They are rare instances of stinging ants. Besides their sting, they can too be determined by a single segmented petiole and compaction with the 1rst and 2nd components of the gaster. The shape of their heads also aids in identification, female workers have 12 segmented antennae, and male workers have 13 segmented antennae.

Behavior

The ant is typically found nesting in soil, forest litter, or decomposing logs and preys on both isopods and other ants. Mostly living in diminutive ant colonies of up to 200 workers, they are mainly in tropical climates but have been seen in southeastern Canada and even the territory of New York.

[FULL LIST OF Ponerinae GENUS]

Subfamilies Of Ants