Subfamily Ponerinae Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1835

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Introduction

Ponerine species range from small and cryptic to large and conspicuous. They are found throughout Australia from pristine habitats to disturbed sites such as gardens and parks, and can be quite abundant. Workers are predacious, generally forage on the ground, and some specialise on a very limited range of prey. In addition, many species have powerful and painful stings used for subduing prey and as a defensive measure against intruders.

There are about 2000 described species and subspecies in the subfamily Ponerinae, placed in 42 genera. Within Australia there are about 95 described species in 16 genera, following update from Schmidt & Shattuck (2014).

General References

Schmidt, C.A. & Shattuck, S.O. 2014. The higher classification of the ant subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a review of Ponerine ecology and behavior. Zootaxa 3817(1): 1-242

History of changes