- Animals
- ›Arthropods
- ›Hexapods
- ›Insects
- ›Winged and Once-winged Insects
- ›Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies
- ›Narrow-waisted Wasps, Ants, and Bees
- ›Ants, Bees, and Stinging Wasps
- ›Formicoidea
Ants
Formicidae
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.
23 branches of this family, most-observed first
Formicine Ants
subfamilyFormicinae
Myrmicine Ants
subfamilyMyrmicinae
Odorous Ants
subfamilyDolichoderinae
Ponerine Ants
subfamilyPonerinae
Bull and Dinosaur Ants
subfamilyMyrmeciinae
Pseudomyrmecinae
subfamilyPseudomyrmecinae
Ectaheteromorph Ants
subfamilyEctatomminae
Army Ants and Allies
subfamilyDorylinae
Paraponerinae
subfamilyParaponerinae
Vampire Ants
subfamilyAmblyoponinae
Proceratiine Ants
subfamilyProceratiinae
Leptanilline Ants
subfamilyLeptanillinae
Agroecomyrmecinae
subfamilyAgroecomyrmecinae
Relict Ants
subfamilyAneuretinae
Sphecomyrminae
subfamilySphecomyrminae
Formiciinae
subfamilyFormiciinae
Brownimeciinae
subfamilyBrownimeciinae
Eoformica
genusEoformica
Armaniinae
subfamilyArmaniinae
Hell Ants
subfamilyHaidomyrmecinae
Martialinae
subfamilyMartialinae
Apomyrminae
subfamilyApomyrminae
Zigrasimeciinae
subfamilyZigrasimeciinae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Formicidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 47336.