Haidomyrmecinae

Hell ant cranial morphology is unlike any modern group of ants, a reﬂection of ancient diversification ultimately bound for extinction. Phylogenetic analyses have recovered haidomyrmecines as a stem-group lineage that diverged from modern ants prior to the most common recent ancestor of all living ants (Barden and Grimaldi, 2016; Barden et al., submitted). This phylogenetic placement, molecular divergence estimates (Moreau and Bell, 2013) and the presence of crown ants in Cretaceous amber (Grimaldi and Agosti, 2000; McKellar et al., 2013b; Zheng et al., 2018; Perrichot, 2019) indicate that hell ants and early members of extant lineages overlapped for tens of millions of years. The extinction of haidomyrmecines following their diversification remains an outstanding question in ant evolution, as is the function and evolutionary history responsible for this striking expansion into unparalleled phenotypic space. (Perrichot, Wang & Barden, 2020)

Nomenclature

 * † [tribe of †Sphecomyrminae]
 * †Haidomyrmecini Bolton, 2003: 74, 261. Type-genus: †Haidomyrmex Dlussky, 1996: 84.

Taxonomic History

 * †Haidomyrmecini as tribe of †Sphecomyrminae: Bolton, 2003: 74, 261; Perrichot, et al. 2008: 92; McKellar, et al. 2013b: 457; Borysenko, 2017: 17.
 * †Haidomyrmecinae as subfamily of Formicidae: Perrichot, Wang & Barden, 2020: 3.

Taxonomic References
McKellar, et al. 2013b: 457 (genera and all species key); Perrichot, Wang & Engel, 2016: in supplemental information (not paginated) (genera and all species key); Barden, et al. 2017: 838 (synopsis of species); Borysenko, 2017: 19 (diagnosis); Perrichot, Wang & Barden, 2020: 3 (status as subfamily).