EXCERPT

Ants, bees and stinging wasps all belong to the aculeate (stinging) Hymenoptera clade, the insect group in which social behavior is most extensively developed, said senior author and ant specialist Phil Ward, professor of entomology at UC Davis.

The use of genome sequencing and bioinformatics answers a piece of a long-standing, unanswered evolutionary puzzle. Previously it was thought that ants and bees were distantly related, with ants being closer to certain parasitoid wasps.

SOURCE

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/bees_are_closer_genetic_relatives_ants_they_are_wasps-121938

ARTICLE

Johnson, Brian R. et al. 2013. Phylogenomics resolves evolutionary relationships among ants, bees, and wasps. Current Biology October 3, 2013. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.08.050