This subfamily of ants includes many genera mostly distributed through the tropics. The sting is absent but many species have poison glands that excrete a repellant fluid through the anal orifice. The gaster has a reduced number of segments compared with Formicinae and only four are visible in dorsal view in workers and queens and five in the males. The anal aperture is flattened with a hairless horizontal slit. Only one genera and two species are native in Britain. They are Tapinoma erraticum and T. subboreale. There are some scattered records of tramp species of this subfamily including the species Linepithema humile.
