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Subfamily: Ponerinae   Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1835 

Classification:

Current Valid Name:



Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2023)

Extant: 2 valid tribes, 50 valid genera, 1,274 valid species

Fossil: 13 valid genera, 90 valid species

Ponerites Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1835 PDF: 185. Type-genus: Ponera. AntCat AntWiki

Taxonomic history

Ponerinae as group name: Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1835 PDF: 185 [Ponérites].
Ponerinae as family: Smith, 1851 PDF: 6 [Poneridae]; Smith, 1858a PDF: 76 [Poneridae]; Smith, 1861b PDF: 44 [Poneridae]; Smith, 1871b PDF: 320 [Poneridae]; André, 1882a PDF: 125 [Poneridae]; Cresson, 1887 PDF: 93 [Poneridae]; Emery, 1894h PDF: 379 [Poneridae]; Saunders, 1896 PDF: 18 [Poneridae]; Ashmead, 1905c PDF: 382 [Poneridae]; Novák & Sadil, 1941 PDF: 70 [Poneridae]; Bernard, 1951c: 1042 [Poneridae]; Bernard, 1953b PDF: 185 [Poneridae].
Ponerinae as tribe of Formicidae: André, 1874b: 167 [Poneridae].
Ponerinae as subfamily of Poneridae: Ashmead, 1905c PDF: 382.
Ponerinae as subfamily of Formicidae: Mayr, 1855 PDF: 289, 299 [Poneridae]; Mayr, 1861 PDF: 21 [Poneridae]; Mayr, 1862 PDF: 712 [Poneridae]; Smith, 1857a PDF: 64 [Poneridae]; Smith, 1862b PDF: 31 [Poneridae]; Mayr, 1865 PDF: 11 [Poneridae]; Mayr, 1868c PDF: 24 [Poneridae]; Forel, 1870 PDF: 307 [Poneridae]; Forel, 1874 PDF: 21 [Poneridae]; Emery, 1877b PDF: 70 [Poneridae]; Forel, 1878c PDF: 366 [Poneridae]; Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 455 [Poneridae]; André, 1881c PDF: 64 [Poneridae]; Forel, 1892k PDF: 220 [Poneridae]; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 13; Forel, 1893b PDF: 162; Forel, 1895b PDF: 111 [Poneridae]; Nasonov, 1889: 27 [Poneridae]; Emery, 1895l PDF: 766 [subfamily spelled Ponerini]; Emery, 1896e PDF: 176; Forel, 1899b PDF: 2; Emery, 1901b PDF: 36; Bingham, 1903 PDF: 23; Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 134; Emery, 1911e PDF: 2; Wheeler, 1915h PDF: 805 [Ponerides]; Donisthorpe, 1915f PDF: 65; Wheeler, 1915i PDF: 25; Arnold, 1915: 9; Escherich, 1917: 2 [Ponerini]; Forel, 1917 PDF: 235; Bondroit, 1918 PDF: 78 [Poneritae]; Wheeler, 1920 PDF: 53; Wheeler, 1922: 56, 632, 640; Borgmeier, 1923: 37; Karavaiev, 1934: 49; Clark, 1951 PDF: 15; Brown, 1954e PDF: 24; Wheeler & Wheeler, 1972a PDF: 39; Brown, 1973b PDF: 165; all subsequent authors.
Ponerinae as poneromorph subfamily of Formicidae: Bolton, 2003 PDF: 42, 156.
Tribes of Ponerinae: Platythyreini, Ponerini
Genera incertae sedis in Ponerinae: †Afropone, †Eogorgites, †Eoponerites, †Furcisutura, †Longicapitia, †Taphopone
Subfamily Ponerinae references, world
Smith, 1858a PDF: 76 (diagnosis); Mayr, 1862 PDF: 712 (genera key); Mayr, 1865 PDF: 11 (Odontomachidae, Poneridae diagnoses); Mayr, 1867a PDF: 79, 81 (Odontomachidae, Poneridae diagnoses); Forel, 1878c PDF: 366 (diagnosis); Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 13 (world catalogue); Emery, 1895l PDF: 766 (diagnosis); Emery, 1896e PDF: 176 (genera key); Handlirsch, 1907: 879 (*fossil taxa catalogue); Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 134 (diagnosis); Emery, 1911e PDF: 3 (diagnosis, tribes key); Forel, 1917 PDF: 235 (synoptic classification); Forel, 1921c: 133 (diagnosis); Wheeler, 1922: 56, 636 (diagnosis, tribes key); Brown & Nutting, 1950 PDF: 124 (venation, phylogeny); Brown, 1954e PDF: 24 (phylogeny); Eisner, 1957 PDF: 475 (proventriculus morphology); Bernard, 1967a PDF: 79 (diagnosis); Gotwald, 1969b PDF: 25 (mouthparts morphology); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1972a PDF: 39 (diagnosis); Brown, 1973b PDF: 165 (genera, distribution); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1976b PDF: 48 (larvae, review & synthesis); Snelling, 1981: 387 (synoptic classification); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1985b PDF: 256 (synoptic classification); Billen, 1986b: 168 (Dufour's gland); Fanfani & Dazzini Valcurone, 1986: 115 (exocrine glands synopsis); Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 78 (synoptic classification); Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 9 onward (synoptic classification, genera keys); Baroni Urbani et al., 1992 PDF: 317 (phylogeny); Bolton, 1994: 153 (diagnosis, synoptic classification, genera keys); Bolton, 1995a PDF: 1042 (census); Bolton, 1995b: 14 (catalogue); Grimaldi et al., 1997 PDF: 20 (*Cretaceous genera); Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2003 PDF: 422 (diagnosis for wingless fossils); Bolton, 2003 PDF: 42, 156 (diagnosis, synopsis); Ouellette et al., 2006 PDF: 359 (phylogeny); Brady et al., 2006 PDF: 18173 (phylogeny); Moreau et al., 2006 PDF: 102 (phylogeny); Ward, 2007c PDF: 555 (classification); Keller, 2011 PDF: 1 (morphology, phylogeny); Schmidt, 2013 PDF: 201 (molecular phylogeny); Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014 10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1 PDF: 4 (diagnosis, tribal and generic classification revision); Boudinot, 2015 PDF: 47 (male diagnosis); Fisher & Bolton, 2016: 52 (worker diagnosis); Esteves & Fisher, 2021 https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1074.75551 PDF: 138 (morphological characters reassessment); Branstetter & Longino, 2022 10.1093/isd/ixab031 PDF: 8 (phylogeny); Boudinot et al., 2022 10.3390/insects13090796 PDF: 7 (male diagnosis)
Regional and national faunas with keys
Mayr, 1861 PDF: 28 (Europe); Mayr, 1868c PDF: 69 (*Baltic Amber); Forel, 1874 PDF: 29 (Switzerland); André, 1882c PDF: 227 (Europe & Algeria); Cresson, 1887 PDF: 97 (U.S.A., genera); Provancher, 1887: 238 (Canada); Nasonov, 1889: 54 (Russia); Forel, 1891c PDF: 9 (Madagascar genera); Forel, 1900d PDF: 52 (India & Sri Lanka); Bingham, 1903 PDF: 23 (India, Sri Lanka & Burma); Ruzsky, 1905b: 108 (Russian Empire); Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 557 (North America genera); Bondroit, 1910 PDF: 489 (Belgium); Stitz, 1914 PDF: 54 (Central Europe); Gallardo, 1915 PDF: 31 (Argentina genera); Forel, 1915d: 6 (Switzerland); Arnold, 1915: 10 (South Africa); Donisthorpe, 1915f PDF: 65 (Britain); Emery, 1916a PDF: 98 (Italy); Wheeler, 1916r: 580 (U.S.A., Connecticut); Bondroit, 1918 PDF: 79 (France & Belgium); Gallardo, 1918c PDF: 4 (Argentina); Soudek, 1922b PDF: 18 (Czechoslovakia); Stärcke, 1926b: 82 (Netherlands); Donisthorpe, 1927c: 68 (Britain); Menozzi & Russo, 1930 PDF: 169 (Dominican Republic); Arnol'di, 1933a: 596 (Russia); Karavaiev, 1934: 50 (Ukraine); Smith, 1937 PDF: 823 (Puerto Rico); Stitz, 1939: 58 (Germany); Smith, 1943e PDF: 278 (U.S.A. males); Buren, 1944a PDF: 279 (U.S.A., Iowa); Smith, 1947f PDF: 530 (U.S.A. genera); Creighton, 1950a PDF: 31 (North America); Kusnezov, 1956a PDF: 11 (Argentina); Brown, 1958h PDF: 11 (New Zealand); Gregg, 1963: 280 (U.S.A., Colorado); Bernard, 1967a PDF: 80 (Western Europe); Wilson & Taylor, 1967b PDF: 10 (Polynesia); Kempf, 1972b PDF: 262 (Neotropical synoptic classification); Bolton, 1973a PDF: 323 (West Africa genera); Bolton & Collingwood, 1975: 3 (Britain); Van Boven, 1977 PDF: 66 (Belgium); Kutter, 1977c PDF: 21 (Switzerland); Arnol'di & Dlussky, 1978: 522 (former European U.S.S.R.); Collingwood, 1978 PDF: 74 (Iberian Peninsula); Collingwood, 1979 PDF: 29 (Fennoscandia & Denmark); Greenslade, 1979: 14 (South Australia genera); Francoeur, 1979a PDF: 30 (Canada, Québec); Schembri & Collingwood, 1981 PDF: 417 (Malta); Allred, 1982: 438 (U.S.A., Utah); Baroni Urbani, 1984 PDF: 75 (Neotropical genera); Collingwood, 1985 PDF: 236 (Saudi Arabia); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1986g PDF: 17 (U.S.A., Nevada); Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b PDF: 264 (Balkans); Ogata, 1987a PDF: 101 (Japan genera); Morisita et al., 1989: 8 (Japan); Dlussky et al., 1990 PDF: 173 (Turkmenistan); Kupyanskaya, 1990a: 85 (Far Eastern Russia); Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 51 (Bulgaria); Lattke, in Jaffe, 1993: 166 (Neotropical genera); Arakelian, 1994 PDF: 10 (Armenia); Wu & Wang, 1995a: 31 (China genera); Collingwood & Agosti, 1996 PDF: 308 (Saudi Arabia); Seifert, 1996b: 107 (Central Europe); Collingwood & Prince, 1998: 10 (Portugal); Kim et al., 1998: 145 (Korea); Shattuck, 1999: 52, 179 (Australia genera synopsis); Andersen, 2000: 19 (northern Australia genera); Zhou, 2001a PDF: 22 (China, Guangxi); Czechowski et al., 2002 PDF: 133 (Poland); Aktaç & Radchenko, 2002: 53 (Turkey genera); Yoshimura & Onoyama, 2002b PDF: 436 (Japan genera, males); Mackay & Mackay, 2002 PDF: 27 (U.S.A., New Mexico); Csosz, 2003 PDF: 147 (Carpathian Basin); Palacio & Fernández, in Radchenko, 2005b PDF: 184 (North Korea); Coovert, 2005 PDF: 23 (U.S.A., Ohio); Yoshimura & Fisher, 2007 PDF: 27 (Malagasy genera, males); Clouse, 2007b PDF: 190 (Micronesia); Seifert, 2007: 108 (North and Central Europe); Bolton & Fisher, 2008c PDF: 32 (Afrotropical genera); Lyu, 2008 PDF: 315 (Korean genera); Fernández & Arias-Penna, 2008 PDF: 32 (Neotropical genera); Dlussky, 2009 PDF: 1071 (Eocene amber); Terayama, 2009 PDF: 101 (Taiwan genera); Heterick, 2009 PDF: 34 (south-western Australia genera); Boer, 2010: 68 (Benelux); General & Alpert, 2012 PDF: 76 (Philippines genera key); Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014 10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1 PDF: 17 (New world, African and Malagasy, Eurasian and Australian genera); Fernández & Guerrero, 2019 PDF: 509 (Colombia); Esteves & Fisher, 2021 https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1074.75551 PDF: 110 (Neotropical genera key); Borowiec & Salata, 2022 PDF: 23 (key to Greece genera).
// Distribution

Distribution:

  Geographic regions (According to curated Geolocale/Taxon lists):
    Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Europa Island, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Juan de Nova Island, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Macaronesia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
    Americas: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Galapagos Islands, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, United States Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Venezuela
    Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Borneo, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Christmas Island, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Krakatau Islands, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicobar Island, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen
    Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Balearic Islands, Belgium, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom
    Oceania: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Lord Howe Island, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna
  Biogeographic regions (According to curated Bioregion/Taxon lists):
    Afrotropical, Australasia, Indomalaya, Malagasy, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oceania, Palearctic

Identification:

As newly defined by Bolton (2003), workers of this subfamily can be distinguished by the following traits: (1) outer borders of frontal lobes forming short semicircles or triangles, and having a pinched -in appearance posteriorly, (2) promesonotal suture flexible, (3) constriction present between abdominal segments 3 and 4, but segment 3 not markedly reduced in size compared to segment 4 (i.e., postpetiole absent); (4) abdominal segments 3 and 4 with tergosternal fusion; and (3) sting well developed.

Notes:

This is a diverse group of ants, largely tropical in distribution, and predatory in habits. One genus (four species) is recorded from California.

References:

Bolton (1994, 2003); Brown (1952g, 1975, 1976c, 1978c); Keller (2000); Kugler (1991); Lattke (1994); Ogata (1987a).

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Scientific Name Status Publication Pages ModsID GoogleMaps
Ponerinae   Donisthorpe, H. S. J. K., 1938, Five new species of ant, chiefly from New Guinea., Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1, pp. 140-148: 140, (download) 140 5782
Ponerinae   Yoshimura, M. & Fisher, B. L., 2007, A revision of male ants of the Malagasy region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Key to subfamilies and treatment of the genera of Ponerinae., Zootaxa 1654, pp. 21-40: 28-29, (download) 28-29 21365
Ponerinae   Yoshimura, M. & Fisher, B. L., 2007, A revision of male ants of the Malagasy region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Key to subfamilies and treatment of the genera of Ponerinae., Zootaxa 1654, pp. 21-40: 30, (download) 30 21365
Ponerinae   Clark, J., 1930, New Formicidae, with notes on some little-known species., Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 43, pp. 2-25: 6-7, (download) 6-7 6104
Ectatomma (Acanthoponera) imbellis var. hilare   Wheeler, W. M., 1923, Ants of the genera Myopias and Acanthoponera., Psyche 30, pp. 175-192: 180-181, (download) 180-181 3374
Ponerinae   Wheeler, W. M., 1922, The ants collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition., Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45, pp. 39-269: 56-57, (download) 56-57 20597


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