Genesis of the Ants (Formicoidea)

Abstract

Together with the wasps and bees, the ants make up the extensive suborder of the Hymenoptera aculeata numbering altogether more than 50,000 species. The superfamily of the ants (Formicoidea) is the smallest, embracing about 6,000 species and varieties, distributed throughout the globe. A striking fact is that all the ants are social insects, living a more or less organized life. Their society consists mainly of closely related females, usually the offspring of the same mother. The society of the ants, like that of other social insects, is thus essentially a family in its composition and origin.