Armaniinae is sometimes treated as the most
basal of the Formicidae subfamilies, and classed as a stem-group which is more distant in relation to modern ants than the next stem group,
Sphecomyrminae. Alternatively, the group has been treated as "ant-like wasps", In contrast to both the treatment as a separate family and as a distinct subfamily, entomologist
E. O. Wilson, in a 1987 paper, suggested that the then known armaniids and
Sphecomyrma represented a single species. Wilson, in synonymizing the groups, made the hypothesis that the different described genera were actually fossils of different castes of the same species, with
Sphecomyrma freyi being workers,
Armania robusta being queens, and
"Paleomyrmex" zherichini as the winged males. This view was rejected as new fossils and species were described. but the veracity of the presence is uncertain. A review of the Cretaceous ant groups was performed by Borysenko in 2017 leading to the breakup of Armaniidae, with the three genera
Armania,
Orapia, and
Pseudarmania being moved to
Sphecomyrminae. The genera
Archaeopone and
Poneropterus were considered as
incertae sedis in Formicidae, and the genera
Dolichomyrma and
Khetania were removed from the family entirely as
incertae sedis in
Aculeata. ==Genera and species==