PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Moreau, Corrie S.
AU  - Bell, Charles D.
AU  - Vila, Roger
AU  - Archibald, S. Bruce
AU  - Pierce, Naomi E.
TI  - Phylogeny of the Ants: Diversification in the Age of Angiosperms
AID  - 10.1126/science.1124891
DP  - 2006 Apr 07
TA  - Science
PG  - 101--104
VI  - 312
IP  - 5770
4099  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/312/5770/101.short
4100  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/312/5770/101.full
SO  - Science2006 Apr 07; 312
AB  - We present a large-scale molecular phylogeny of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), based on 4.5 kilobases of sequence data from six gene regions extracted from 139 of the 288 described extant genera, representing 19 of the 20 subfamilies. All but two subfamilies are recovered as monophyletic. Divergence time estimates calibrated by minimum age constraints from 43 fossils indicate that most of the subfamilies representing extant ants arose much earlier than previously proposed but only began to diversify during the Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene. This period also witnessed the rise of angiosperms and most herbivorous insects.