Bull-ants
Guides
Myrmeciinae
Bull and Dinosaur Ants
Myrmeciinae is a subfamily of ants in the family Formicidae, currently restricted to Australia and New Caledonia but with a fossil record indicating former worldwide distribution during the Eocene. The subfamily is notable for possessing gamergates—female workers capable of mating and reproducing to sustain colonies after queen loss. It includes two extant tribes (Myrmeciini and Prionomyrmecini) with living genera Myrmecia and Nothomyrmecia, plus multiple fossil genera from Eocene deposits in North America and Europe. Myrmeciinae is considered sociobiologically primitive, exhibiting ancestral traits such as simple colony organization and the absence of worker behavioral subcastes in studied species.