Dracula ant phylogeny as inferred by nuclear 28S rDNA sequences and implications for ant systematics (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyoponinae).

Ants are one of the most ecologically and numerically dominant families of organisms in almost every terrestrial habitat throughout the world, though they include only about 1% of all described insect species. The development of eusociality is thought to have been a driving force in the striking diversification and dominance of this group, yet we know little about the evolution of the major lineages of ants and have been unable to clearly determine their primitive characteristics. Ants within the subfamily Amblyoponinae are specialized arthropod predators, possess many anatomically and behaviorally primitive characters and have been proposed as a possible basal lineage within the ants.