Messor intermedius

Identification
Collingwood and Agosti (1996) - HW 2.78; EL/HW 0.16-0.17. This is a brown species with the alitrunk sometimes dark red but never as dark as the gaster. It resembles Messor semirufus in the relatively small eye size but is distinguished by the coarse sculpture and much darker colour.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Greece, Israel, Oman, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Turkmenistan.

Nomenclature

 *  intermedius. Messor semirufus var. intermedius Santschi, 1927c: 229 (w.) SYRIA. [First available use of Messor barbarus subsp. semirufus var. intermedia Forel, 1910a: 10; unavailable name.] Subspecies of semirufus: Menozzi, 1927e: 117. Junior synonym of semirufus: Baroni Urbani, 1974: 227. Revived from synonymy and raised to species: Arnol'di, 1977b: 1640 (in key). See also: Tohmé, G. & Tohmé, H. 1981: 142; Dlussky & Zabelin, 1985: 211.