One of the oddest results from the Ant Tree of Life phylogeny was the recovery of a close relationship between Monomorium and Myrmicaria, two rather different looking ants.
But it all seems a little more plausible when looking at the Monomorium infuscum specimen recently uploaded to antweb. I know this is just a gut impression, but still. If M. infuscum sprouted spines and lost a few antennal segments it'd be most of the way there.
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This seems to me hardly the most baffling result of the myrmicine phylogeny resulting from that analysis. The situation around the traditional dacetines and the attines is quite fascinating.
That's true. But this was a somewhat different situation, strong support for a previously unknown relationship, whereas the attines and dacetines merely show low support or a lack of resolution.
I don't know. The support seems okay for at least some of the wierdness around the attines in the phylogeny presented here http://www.pnas.org/content/105/14/5435.full.pdf.