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
Afrotropical Region: Saudi Arabia. Palaearctic Region: Greece, Israel, Oman, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan.

Nomenclature

 * . Messor semirufus var. intermedius Santschi, 1927c: 229 (date of publication (31).v.1927).
 * Type-material: syntype workers, syntype queens, syntype males (numbers not stated).
 * Type-localities Syria: Doumar, Aïn Fidjé, Mezzé, Anti-Lebanon, and Damascus (G. de Kerville), Israel: Jerusalem (E. Schmitz).
 * Type-depository: MHNG.
 * [First available use of Messor barbarus subsp. semirufus var. intermedia Forel, 1910a: 10 (w.) SYRIA, ISRAEL; unavailable (infrasubspecific) name.]
 * Menozzi, 1933b: 53 (q.m.).
 * As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1921f: 72; Santschi, 1921a: 110; Emery, 1922c: 97; Santschi, 1939c: 6.
 * Subspecies of semirufus: Menozzi, 1927e: 117 (date of publication 10.xi.1927); Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929d: 22; Menozzi, 1933b: 53; Santschi, 1934d: 275.
 * Junior synonym of semirufus: Baroni Urbani, 1974: 227.
 * Status as species: Arnol'di, 1977b: 1640 (in key); Dlussky, 1981a: 17; Tohmé, G. & Tohmé, H. 1981: 142; Dlussky & Zabelin, 1985: 211; Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 222; Bolton, 1995b: 254; Collingwood & Agosti, 1996: 318; Paknia, et al. 2008: 155; Vonshak, et al. 2009: 42; Legakis, 2011: 10; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 514; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 19; Borowiec, L. 2014: 107; Tohmé, G. & Tohmé, 2014: 134; Khalili-Moghadam, et al. 2019: 172.
 * Distribution: Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey.

Type Material
Salata & Borowiec (2019): syntype (w.): Messor | barbarus | subsp. semirufus | Andr. | v. intermedia | type | For || Typus || Doumar Syrie | (Kerville) 22 || Coll. | A. Forel || ANTWEB | CASENT0907736 (MHNG).

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.
 * 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. and D. Agosti. 1996. Formicidae (Insects: Hymenoptera) of Saudi Arabia (Part 2) Fauna of Saudi Arabia 15: 300-385.
 * 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
 * Forel A. 1910. Glanures myrmécologiques. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 54: 6-32.
 * Khalili-Moghadam A., L. Borowiec, and A. Nemati. 2019. New records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari Province of Iran with taxonomic comments. Polish Journal of Entomology 88 (2): 163–182.
 * Kuznetsov G. T. 1990. Comparative analysis of Hymenoptera (Formicidae) population on altitudinal zones of central Kopetdag. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk Turkmenskoi SSR. Seriya Biologicheskikh Nauk 1990(3): 64-67.
 * Menozzi C. 1927. Zur Erforschung des Persischen Golfes. (Beitrag nr. 12) Formicidae (Hym.). Supplementa Entomologica. 16: 117-119.
 * Paknia O., A. Radchenko, H. Alipanah, and M. Pfeiffer. 2008. A preliminary checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Iran. Myrmecological News 11: 151-159.
 * 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., and M. Pfeiffer. 2014. Niche-based processes and temporal variation of environment drive beta diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in dryland ecosystems of Iran. Myrmecological News 20: 15-23.
 * Santschi, F.. "Fourmis d'une croisière." Bulletin et Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique (Bruxelles) 74 (1934): 273-282.
 * Santschi, F.. "Notes sur les fourmis paléarctiques. II. Fourmis d'Asie Mineure récoltées par M. H. Gadeau de Kerville." Boletín de la Real Sociedad española de Historia natural (Madrid) 21 (1921): 110-116.
 * Santschi, F.. "Revision des Messor du groupe instabilis Sm. (Hymenopt.)." Boletín de la Real Sociedad española de Historia natural (Madrid) 27 (1927): 225-250.
 * Santschi, F.. "Trois notes sur quelques fourmis du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique." Bulletin du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique 15 (1939): 1-15.
 * Siberian Zoological Museum. Website available at http://szmn.sbras.ru/old/Hymenop/Formicid.htm. Accessed on January 27th 2014.
 * Tohme G. 1996. Formicidae. Etude de la diversité biologique n° 4 . Ministère de lAgriculture à Beyrouth (Eds.). P85-87.
 * Tohme G., and H. Tohme. 2014. Nouvelles liste des especes de fourmis du Liban (Hymenoptera, Formicoidea). Lebanese Science Journal 15(1): 133-141.
 * Tohmé, G., and H. Tohmé. "Les fourmis du genre Messor en Syrie. Position systématique. Description de quelques ailés et de formes nouvelles. Répartition géographique." Ecologia Mediterranea 7 (1) (1981): 139-153, fig. 1-22.
 * Vonshak M., and A. Ionescu-Hirsch. 2009. A checklist of the ants of Israel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Israel Journal of Entomology 39: 33-55.