Messor semirufus

Distribution
This taxon was described from vicinity of Caspian Sea. It is also found in Israel, Iran, Iraq and Italy.

Nomenclature

 *  semirufus. Aphaenogaster barbara var. semirufa André, 1883b: 355 (w.q.) vicinity of CASPIAN SEA. Combination in Messor: Ruzsky, 1905b: 750. Junior synonym of caducus: Emery, 1891b: 11. Revived from synonymy as subspecies of barbarus: Emery, 1908e: 447; Forel, 1910a: 9; Santschi, 1921a: 110. Raised to species: Santschi, 1927c: 227; Menozzi, 1933b: 52; Collingwood, 1985: 252. Senior synonym of kutteri, nigricans and material of the unavailable name obscurior referred here: Baroni Urbani, 1974: 227. Current subspecies: nominal plus emeryi, grandinidus.
 * nigriceps. Messor semirufus var. nigriceps Santschi, 1929e: 144 (w.) ISRAEL. [Junior primary homonym of nigriceps Santschi, above.] Replacement name: nigricans Santschi, 1932f: 517.
 * nigricans. Messor semirufus var. nigricans Santschi, 1932f: 517. Replacement name for nigriceps Santschi, 1929e: 144. [Junior primary homonym of nigriceps Santschi, 1925g: 341.] [Unresolved junior primary homonym of nigricans Santschi, above.] Junior synonym of semirufus: Baroni Urbani, 1974: 227.
 * kutteri. Messor semirufus var. kutteri Santschi, 1934d: 275 (w.) ITALY. Junior synonym of semirufus: Baroni Urbani, 1974: 227.

Additional References

 * Abdul-Rassoul, M.S., Ali, H.B. & Augul, R.SH. 2013. New Records of Unidentified Ants worker (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) stored in Iraqi Natural History Museum with key to Species. Adv. Biores., Vol 4 (2): 27-33.