[4] A 2007 study analysing petiole and antenna morphology led to the proposal that at least some of the armaniid genera be placed in Sphecomyrminae,[5][4] although others are unconvinced by the arguments and retain Armaniinae.

[6][4] 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.

[7] 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.

[6] 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.