 In 1911 Emery classified the subgenera Myrmecia , Pristomyrmecia and Promyrmecia , based on the shape of the mandibles . Wheeler established the subgenus Halmamyrmecia , and the ants placed in it were characterised by their jumping behaviour . The taxon Wheeler described was not referred to in his later publications , and the genera Halmamyrmecia and Pristomyrmecia were synonymised by John Clark . At the same time , Clark reclassified the subgenus Promyrmecia as a full genus . He revised the whole subfamily Myrmeciinae in 1951 , recognising 118 species and subspecies in Myrmecia and Promyrmecia ; five species groups were assigned to Myrmecia and eight species groups to Promyrmecia . This revision was rejected by entomologist William Brown due to the lack of morphological evidence that would make the two genera distinct from each other . Due to this , Brown would classify Promyrmecia as a synonym of Myrmecia in 1953 . Clark 's revision was the last major taxonomic study on the genus before 1991 , and only a single species was described in the intervening years . In 2015 , four new Myrmecia ants were described by Robert Taylor , all exclusive to Australia . Currently , 94 species are described in the genus , but as many as 130 species may exist . 
