Haidomyrmecinae

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Haidomyrmecinae
Temporal range: Late Aptian - Campanian 113–79  Ma
Dhagnathos autokrator FANTWEB00028 profile.jpg
Dhagnathos autokrator
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily:† Haidomyrmecinae
Bolton, 2003
Type genus
† Haidomyrmex
Genera

See text

Synonyms
  • Haidomyrmecini

Haidomyrmecinae, occasionally called hell ants, are an extinct subfamily of ants (Formicidae) known from Cretaceous fossils primarily found in amber from North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, spanning the late Aptian to Campanian, around 113 to 79 million years ago. [1] The subfamily was first proposed in 2003 but had been subsequently treated as the tribe Haidomyrmecini and placed in the extinct ant subfamily Sphecomyrminae. Reevaluation of the Haidomyrmecini in 2020 led to the elevation of the group back to the subfamily. The family contains nine genera and 13 species. [2]

Contents

Members of this family are highly distinct from all other ants, having diverse head ornamentation, and unusually shaped, extended mandibles that are articulated vertically rather than horizontally as in modern ants. The jaws in combination with the head ornamentation served to restrain prey, with most species having setae (hair-like structures) covering parts of the head, which likely functioned as triggers to rapidly close the jaw when disturbed, similar to those of modern trap-jaw ants. Fossils indicate that haidomyrmecines were able to take prey solitarily. [3] Like modern ants, they were eusocial, with distinct worker and queen castes, [3] likely with relatively small colony sizes. [4] Due to their lack of metabolic stores, the queens likely engaged in hunting during the initial foundation of the nest. [5] Haidomyrmecines are thought to be amongst the most basal and earliest diverging group of ants known. [2]

Genera

Aquilomyrmex huangi Aquilomyrmex huangi FANTWEB00036 dorsal.jpg
Aquilomyrmex huangi
Haidomyrmex zigrasi Haidomyrmex zigrasi JZ01 01.jpg
Haidomyrmex zigrasi

Including the type genus Haidomyrmex , the subfamily contains 10 genera and 14 species.

The vast majority of species are known from Burmese amber, which dates to the mid-Cretaceous, around 100 million years ago. Other species are known from French amber of equivalent age, as well as the Canadian amber of Alberta, Canada, which dates to around 80 million years ago. Only a single limestone fossil of an hell ant in known so far. It is from the Crato Formation of Brazil, from around 113 million years ago, and is considered the oldest ant fossil ever found. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 Lepeco, Anderson; Meira, Odair M.; Matielo, Diego M.; Brandão, Carlos R. F.; Camacho, Gabriela P. (2025-04-24). "A hell ant from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil" . Current Biology. 35 (9): 2146–2153.e2. Bibcode:2025CBio...35.2146L. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.023. ISSN   0960-9822. PMID   40280133.
  2. 1 2 Perrichot, V.; Wang, B.; Barden, P. (2020). "New remarkable hell ants (Formicidae: Haidomyrmecinae stat. nov.) from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar" (PDF). Cretaceous Research. 109 104381. Bibcode:2020CrRes.10904381P. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104381 .
  3. 1 2 Barden, Phillip; Perrichot, Vincent; Wang, Bo (October 2020). "Specialized Predation Drives Aberrant Morphological Integration and Diversity in the Earliest Ants". Current Biology. 30 (19): 3818–3824.e4. Bibcode:2020CBio...30E3818B. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.106 . PMID   32763171.
  4. ↑ Perrichot, Vincent; Wang, Bo; Engel, Michael S. (June 2016). "Extreme Morphogenesis and Ecological Specialization among Cretaceous Basal Ants". Current Biology. 26 (11): 1468–1472. Bibcode:2016CBio...26.1468P. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.075 . PMID   27238278.
  5. ↑ Barden, Phillip; Grimaldi, David A. (February 2016). "Adaptive Radiation in Socially Advanced Stem-Group Ants from the Cretaceous". Current Biology. 26 (4): 515–521. Bibcode:2016CBio...26..515B. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.060 . PMID   26877084.


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