Messor minor

A west-Mediterranean taxon, whose variability and taxonomy of which are still poorly known. In Italy it is common especially along the Tyrrhenian Sea (Rigato & Toni, 2011).

Identification
Collingwood and Agosti (1996) - HW 1.8-2.4; EL/HW 0.18-0.22. This red-headed species occurs in South Italy and Tunisia and seems to be indistinguishable from Messor minor maurus from Tenerife and Lanzarote. It is known in Arabia only from a restricted area of the Asir highlands.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Saudi Arabia. Oriental Region: India. Palaearctic Region: Canary Islands, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Montenegro, Morocco.

It occurs in North Africa (Abdul-Rassoul et al. 2013).

Nomenclature

 *  minor. Aphaenogaster barbara var. minor André, 1883b: 355 (w.q.) ITALY. Emery, 1908e: 451 (m.). Combination in Messor: Emery, 1908e: 451. Subspecies of capitatus: Dalla Torre, 1893: 101; of barbarus: Emery, 1908e: 451; Forel, 1910a: 9; Santschi, 1921d: 69; Finzi, 1924a: 13; of instabilis: Santschi, 1923f: 325. Status as species: Bondroit, 1918: 155; Santschi, 1927c: 232; Kutter, 1927: 99; Santschi, 1934d: 273; Bernard, 1967: 149; Arnol'di, 1977b: 1640. Senior synonym of pompeianus: Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 61. Current subspecies: nominal plus calabricus, capreensis, hesperius.
 * pompeianus. Messor minor var. pompeianus Santschi, 1927c: 233 (w.) ITALY. Finzi, 1929: 86 (q.). Junior synonym of minor: Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 61.