Aneuretinae

More diverse in its fossil forms, there is but one extant species of this subfamily. Aneuretus simoni is only known from Sri Lanka.

Identification
Sting (that may not be visible), single petiole with a long, narrow anterior peduncle, propodeum armed with a pair of spines. Major tibial spur of hind leg simple or with a few minute barbules. Palp forumula 3,4. Only known from Sri Lanka. In the field workers resemble small yellow Pheidole minors in their morphology. Behaviorally they have a tendency to keep their long petiole folded up against their propodeum with their gaster slightly elevated.

Males Boudinot (2015) - The male of Aneuretus simoni is uniquely identified by the exceedingly long and thin petiolar peduncle and the unpetiolated third abdominal segment. The species is further identified by the following combination of characters: oblique mesopleural sulcus present; seven closed cells present on forewing; jugal lobe absent; abdominal segment IV without cinctus between pre- and postsclerites; abdominal sternum IX unpronged and edentate; telomere extending anteroventrad basimere. Additional characters for distinguishing A. simoni from the Dolichoderinae and Formicinae are indicated in the subfamily key couplets 19 and 20.

Apomorphies of Aneuretinae
Based on Bolton (1990):

(i) Helcium fused in posterior foramen of abdominal segment 2. (Plesiomorphically very mobile in Dolichoderinae.)

(ii) Postsclerites of abdominal segment 3 reduced. (Plesiomorphically large in Dolichoderinae.)

(iii) Petiole with a long anterior peduncle. (Plesiomorphically sessile or subsessile in Dolichoderinae.)

Nomenclature

 * [subfamily of Formicidae]
 * Aneuretini Emery, 1913a: 6. Type-genus: Aneuretus Emery, 1893a: cclxxv.

Taxonomic History

 * Aneuretini as tribe of Dolichoderinae: Emery, 1913a: 6.
 * Aneuretinae as subfamily of Formicidae: Clark, 1951: 16 (footnote); Wilson, et al. 1956: 93; Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1972a: 40; Snelling, R.R. 1981: 400; Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 78; Bolton, 1990c: 1361; Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 16; Shattuck, 1992b: 201; Baroni Urbani, et al. 1992: 315; Shattuck, 1994: 1; Bolton, 1994: 15; Bolton, 1995b: 9.
 * Aneuretinae as junior synonym of Dolichoderinae: Baroni Urbani, 1989: 147.
 * Aneuretinae as formicomorph subfamily of Formicidae: Bolton, 2003: 18, 79.
 * Aneuretinae as formicoid subfamily of Formicidae: Brady, et al. 2006: 18173; Moreau, et al. 2006: 102.
 * Aneuretinae as formicoid dolichoderomorph subfamily of Formicidae: Ward, 2007a: 556.

Taxonomic References
Forel, 1895e: 461 (diagnosis); Bingham, 1903: 290 (diagnosis); Emery, 1913a: 6 (diagnosis); Wilson, et al. 1956: 93 (diagnosis, review of subfamily and genus); Eisner, 1957: 453 (proventriculus morphology); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1972a: 40 (diagnosis); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1976b: 60 (larvae, review and synthesis); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1985: 258 (synoptic classification); Bolton, 1990c: 1361 (morphology, status); Shattuck, 1992b: 201 (higher classification, phylogeny); Baroni Urbani, et al. 1992: 315 (phylogeny); Bolton, 1994: 15 (diagnosis, synoptic classification); Bolton, 1995a: 1047 (census); Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2002: 414 (diagnosis, wingless impression fossils); Bolton, 2003: 18, 79 (diagnosis, synopsis); Brady, et al. 2006: 18173 (phylogeny); Moreau, et al. 2006: 102 (phylogeny); Keller, 2011: 1 (morphology, phylogeny); Dlussky & Perfilieva, 2014: 433 (British Eocene species key); Boudinot, 2015: 49 (diagnosis).