Messor subgracilinodis

Identification
Collingwood and Agosti (1996) - HW 2.48; EL/HW 0.17. This species has body pilosity much as Messor aralocaspius but less dense and it also differs by the much smoother head sculpture, smaller eyes and the frequent slightly reddish tinge to the alitrunk.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: China, Russian Federation, Turkmenistan.

Nomenclature

 * . Messor subgracilinoclis Arnol'di, 1970a: 73, fig. 1(1,2) (w.q.) TURKMENISTAN.
 * Type-material: holotype worker, 1 paratype queen.
 * Type-locality: holotype Turkmenistan: Dzhebel, 9.vi.1934 (V. Popov); paratype Karabygas (Maksimovich).
 * Type-depository: ZMUM.
 * [Justified emendation of spelling to subgracilinodis: Arnol'di, 1970a: 87 (caption of fig. 1); Arnol'di, 1977b: 1642.]
 * Status as species: Arnol’di, 1977b: 1642 (in key); Dlussky, 1981a: 17; Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 226; Bolton, 1995b: 257; Collingwood & Agosti, 1996: 322; Collingwood & Heatwole, 2000: 7; Paknia, et al. 2010: 33; Guénard & Dunn, 2012: 45; Borowiec, L. 2014: 113.
 * Distribution: China, Iran, Turkmenistan, Yemen.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
 * Collingwood C., and H. Heatwole. 2000. Ants from Northwestern China (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Psyche 103 (1-2): 1-24.
 * Dlussky G. M., O. S. Soyunov, and S. I. Zabelin. 1990. Ants of Turkmenistan. Ashkabad: Ylym Press, 273 pp.
 * Guénard B., and R. R. Dunn. 2012. A checklist of the ants of China. Zootaxa 3558: 1-77.
 * Paknia O., and M. Pfeiffer. 2011. Hierarchical partitioning of ant diversity: implications for conservation of biogeographical diversity in arid and semi-arid areas. Diversity and Distributions 17: 122-131.
 * Paknia, O., A. G. Radchenko, and M. Pfeiffer. "New records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Iran." Asian Myrmecology 3, no. 29-38 (2010).