Messor carpathous

This species is poorly known. Workers were collected at twilight, in dry phrygana on Karpathos. Nest was in soil, with the area between nest entrances and its vicinity covered with dense net of paths that were used by workers (Salata & Borowiec, 2019).

Identification
Salata & Borowiec (2019): Messor carpathous was described as a subspecies of Messor oertzeni but it differs from it, and from related Messor alexandri, in reduced or absent sculpture on vertex, temple, and genae and in propodeum with wide at base, lobe-shaped projections, with blunt, rounded, and directed outwards tips. Messor carpathous can be also confused with Messor hellenius and some taxa of the M. structor group. It differs from M. hellenius in lack of psammophores; from Messor muticus in lack of abundant standing setae on side of head and presence of lobe-shaped projections on propodeum; from Messor mcarthuri and Messor varrialei in presence of lobe at the base of scape and propodeum with lobe-shaped projections; from Messor clivorum in reduced or absent sculpture on vertex, temple, and genae.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Greece.

Nomenclature

 * . Messor oertzeni var. carpathous Menozzi, 1936d: 277, fig. VI, 2 (w.) GREECE (Scarpanto I.).
 * Subspecies of oertzeni: Bolton, 1995b: 253; Legakis, 2011: 9.
 * Status as species: Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 46; Salata & Borowiec, 2019a: 54 (redescription).

Type Material

 * Lectotype (designated by Salata & Borowiec, 2019: 54), top of the pin (w.): Piles | Scarpanto | 22.iv.1934 | C. Menozzi || M. oertzeni | v. carpathus | Typus! Menoz. | Menozzi deter. (DSAB).
 * Paralectotypes (2w.): two other workers on the same pin.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Agosti, D. and C.A. Collingwood. 1987. A provisional list of the Balkan ants (Hym. Formicidae) and a key to the worker caste. I. Synonymic list. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 60: 51-62
 * Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
 * Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2012. Ants of Greece - Checklist, comments and new faunistic data (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus 23(4): 461-563.
 * Collingwood, C. A. 1993. A Comparitive Study of the Ant Fauna of Five Greek Islands. Biologia Gallo-hellenica. 20,1:191-197
 * Collingwood, C. A.. "A comparative study of the ant fauna of five Greek islands." Biologia Gallo-Hellenica 20 (1993): 191-197.
 * Czechowski W., A. Radchenko, W. Czechowska and K. Vepsäläinen. 2012. The ants of Poland with reference to the myrmecofauna of Europe. Fauna Poloniae 4. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 1-496 pp
 * Ghahari H., and C. A. Collingwood. 2013. A study on the ants (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea: Formicidae) from Western Iran. Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 48 (1): 155164.
 * Menozzi C. 1929. Ricerche faunistiche nelle isole italiane dell'Egeo. Imenotteri (formiche). Archivio Zoologico Italiano. 13: 145-146.
 * Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2018. Taxonomic and faunistic notes on Greek ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-51.
 * Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2019. Preliminary contributions toward a revision of Greek Messor Forel, 1890 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Turkish Journal of Zoology 43: 52-67.