Messor minor hesperius

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Canary Islands.

Nomenclature

 *  hesperius. Messor minor var. hesperius Santschi, 1927c: 235 (w.q.m.) SPAIN (Canary Is).
 * Subspecies of minor: Menozzi, 1929a: 3; Báez & Ortega, 1978: 190; Bolton, 1995b: 254; Barech et al., 2020: 18.
 * Status as species: Cagniant & Espadaler, 1998: 424 (in text); Borowiec, L. 2014: 106.

Taxonomic Notes
Barech et al., 2020: New specimens received since 1997 (in particular from Corsica and Tunisia) show that the shape of the petiole (more or less truncated above) is variable from one population to another and to a lesser extent, within the same population. This is why, considering that M. minor has a relatively wide distribution (Italy, France, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Canary Islands), we prefer to demote the Canarian population to the rank of geographically circumscribed population of M. minor, that is to say a subspecies.