The following

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is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ants:

Ants Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Creta ...

– social insects with geniculate (elbowed) antennae and a distinctive node-like structure that forms a slender waist. Ants are of the family Formicidae and

evolved Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago, diversifying after the rise of flowering plants. More than 12,500 out of an estimated total of 22,000

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

have been classified.

Essence of ants

* Ant colony *

Myrmecology Myrmecology (; from Greek: μύρμηξ, ''myrmex'', "ant" and λόγος, ''logos'', "study") is a branch of entomology focusing on the scientific study of ants. Some early myrmecologists considered ant society as the ideal form of society and ...

– scientific study of ants

Biological classification

* Kingdom:

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

ia ** Phylum:

Arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

a *** Class:

Insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

a **** Order: Hymenoptera ***** Suborder:

Apocrita Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera. It includes wasps, bees, and ants, and consists of many families. It contains the most advanced hymenopterans and is distinguished from Symphyta by the narrow "waist" ( petiole) formed ...

****** Superfamily:

Vespoidea Vespoidea is a superfamily of wasps in the order Hymenoptera, although older taxonomic schemes may vary in this categorization, particularly in whether to recognize the superfamilies Scolioidea (for scoliid wasps) or Formicoidea (for ants). V ...

******* Family: Formicidae (family authority: Latreille, 1809)

Kinds of ants

Ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

* List of ant genera *

List of ants of Great Britain This is a list of ants of Great Britain, including endemic and introduced species. Compared with much of the rest of Europe, Great Britain has a smaller number of ants. The size and diversity of ant species in any area is largely determined by the ...

Subfamilies

;Extant subfamilies *

Agroecomyrmecinae Agroecomyrmecinae is a subfamily of ants containing two extant and two fossil genera. The subfamily was originally classified in 1930 by Carpenter as Agroecomyrmecini, a Myrmicinae tribe. Bolton raised the tribe to subfamily status in 2003, sugg ...

Amblyoponinae Amblyoponinae is a subfamily of ants in the poneromorph subfamilies group containing 13 extant genera and one extinct genus. The ants in this subfamily are mostly specialized subterranean predators. Adult workers pierce the integument (non letha ...

Aneuretinae Aneuretinae is a subfamily of ants consisting of a single extant species, ''Aneuretus simoni'' ( Sri Lankan relict ant), and 9 fossil species. Earlier, the phylogenetic position of ''A. simoni'' was thought to be intermediate between primitive ...

Dolichoderinae Dolichoderinae is a subfamily of ants, which includes species such as the Argentine ant (''Linepithema humile''), the erratic ant, the odorous house ant, and the cone ant. The subfamily presents a great diversity of species throughout the wor ...

Dorylinae Dorylinae is an ant subfamily, with distributions in both the Old World and New World. Brady ''et al.'' (2014) synonymized the previous dorylomorph subfamilies (Aenictinae, Aenictogitoninae, Cerapachyinae, Ecitoninae, and Leptanilloidinae) unde ...

* Ectatomminae *

Formicinae The Formicinae are a subfamily within the Formicidae containing ants of moderate evolutionary development. Formicines retain some primitive features, such as the presence of cocoons around pupae, the presence of ocelli in workers, and little ...

* Heteroponerinae * Leptanillinae *

Martialinae ''Martialis heureka'' is a species of ant discovered in 2000 from the Amazon rainforest near Manaus, Brazil. It was described as a new species and placed as the sole member of a new subfamily, Martialinae. The generic name means "from Mars" ...

Myrmeciinae Myrmeciinae is a subfamily of the Formicidae, ants once found worldwide but 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 a ...

* Myrmicinae *

Paraponerinae ''Paraponera'' is a genus of ants and the only genus in the subfamily Paraponerinae. The name means "near-''Ponera''". It consists of two species: the extant ''Paraponera clavata'', also known as a bullet ant, found in the Neotropics, and the ...

Ponerinae Ponerinae is a subfamily of ants in the Poneromorph subfamilies group, with about 1,600 species in 47 extant genera, including '' Dinoponera gigantea'' - one of the world's largest species of ant. Mated workers have replaced the queen as the ...

Proceratiinae Proceratiinae is a subfamily of ants in the poneromorph subfamilies group, with three extant genera, of which most are tropical or subtropical, although overall distribution is worldwide. Identification The ants are relatively small to mediu ...

Pseudomyrmecinae Pseudomyrmecinae is a small subfamily of ants containing only three genera of slender, large-eyed arboreal ants, predominantly tropical or subtropical in distribution. In the course of adapting to arboreal conditions (unlike the predominantly ...

;Fossil subfamilies *†

Armaniinae Armaniidae was a name formerly given to a group of extinct ant-like hymenopterans known from a series of Cretaceous fossils found in Asia and Africa. Armaniidae has been suggested by several authors to belong to the family Formicidae as one of t ...

(sometimes treated as the family Armaniidae within the superfamily Formicoidea) *† Brownimeciinae *†

Formiciinae Formiciinae is an extinct subfamily of ants known from Eocene deposits in Europe and North America. Genera *Formiciinae Lutz, 1986 **Formiciini Lutz, 1986 ***''Titanomyrma'' Archibald, ''et al.'', 2011 ****''Titanomyrma gigantea'' (Lutz, 1986 ...

*†

Sphecomyrminae Sphecomyrminae is an extinct subfamily of ants in family Formicidae known from a series of Cretaceous fossils found in North America, Europe, and Asia. Sphecomyrminae contains eight genera, divided into two tribes Sphecomyrmini and Zigrasimec ...

General myrmecology concepts

Ant colony optimization algorithms In computer science and operations research, the ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO) is a probabilistic technique for solving computational problems which can be reduced to finding good paths through graphs. Artificial ants stand for mult ...

* Ant mill

Myrmecologists

* Murray S. Blum (1929–2015) * Barry Bolton *

Horace Donisthorpe Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe (17 March 1870 – 22 April 1951) was an eccentric British myrmecologist and coleopterist, memorable in part for his enthusiastic championing of the renaming of the genus ''Lasius'' after him as ''Donisthorpea ...

(1870–1951) *

Auguste Forel Auguste-Henri Forel (1 September 1848 – 27 July 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and eugenicist, notable for his investigations into the structure of the human brain and that of ants. For example, he is considere ...

(1848–1931) * William Gould (1715–1799) *

Bert Hölldobler Berthold Karl Hölldobler (born 25 June 1936) is a German sociobiologist and evolutionary biologist who studies evolution and social organization in ants. He is the author of several books, including ''The Ants'', for which he and his co-author, ...

(born 1936) * Thomas C. Jerdon (1811–1872) *

Sir John Lubbock John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, 4th Baronet, (30 April 183428 May 1913), known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was an English banker, Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath. Lubbock worked in his fa ...

(1st Lord and Baron Avebury) (1834–1913) *

Derek Wragge Morley Basil Derek Wragge Morley (1920 – 22 January 1969) born in Cambridge, son of a clergyman. He was most noted for his work on the study of ants. He was an independent scientific consultant, who also held posts in journalism throughout his working ...

(1920–1969) * Frederick Smith (1805–1879) *

John Obadiah Westwood John Obadiah Westwood (22 December 1805 – 2 January 1893) was an English entomologist and archaeologist also noted for his artistic talents. He published several illustrated works on insects and antiquities. He was among the first entomologist ...

(1805–1893) *

William Morton Wheeler William Morton Wheeler (March 19, 1865 – April 19, 1937) was an American entomologist, myrmecologist and Harvard professor. Biography Early life and education William Morton Wheeler was born on March 19, 1865, to parents Julius Morton Wheel ...

(1865–1937) * E.O. Wilson (1929–2021)

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