| Zigrasimeciinae Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Zigrasimecia hoelldobleri holotype worker | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | †Zigrasimeciinae Borysenko, 2017 |
| Genera | |
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See text | |
Zigrasimeciinae is a subfamily of ants, known from the Cretaceous period, originally named as the tribe Zigrasimeciini within the subfamily Sphecomyrminae by Borysenko, 2017,[1] it was elevated to full subfamily in 2020. It contains three described genera.[2] They are sometimes known as iron-maiden ants in reference to their densely spiked mouthparts, reminiscent of an iron maiden torture device, that were likely used to trap prey.[3] Boltonimecia canadensis was described from Campanian Canadian amber out of Alberta, Canada, while the species of Protozigrasimecia and Zigrasimecia are both exclusively known from Cenomanian Burmese amber found in Myanmar.[3]
- ^ Borysenko, L.H. (2017). "Description of a new genus of primitive ants from Canadian amber, with the study of relationships between stem- and crown-group ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Insecta Mundi. 570: 1–57.
- ^ Boudinot, B.; Perrichot, V.; Chaul, J. (2020). "†Camelosphecia gen. nov., lost ant-wasp intermediates from the mid-Cretaceous (Hymenoptera, Formicoidea)". ZooKeys (1005): 21–55. Bibcode:2020ZooK.1005...21B. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1005.57629. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 7762752. PMID 33390754.
- ^ a b Cao, H.; Boudinot, B.; Wang, Z.; Miao, X.; Shih, C.; Ren, D.; Gao, T. (2020). "Two new iron maiden ants from Burmese amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae:† Zigrasimeciini)". Myrmecological News. 30: 161–173. doi:10.25849/myrmecol.news_030:161.
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