Messor semirufus (André)
 Iran list  Type location Undefined
(Caspian Sea) (Aphenogaster barbarus var. semirufa,
André, 1883b: 355, worker & queen).
Bolton (1995: 257) has it as combined in Messor
by Ruzky (1905b: 750); raised to species by Santschi (1927c: 227),
Menozzi (1933b: 52) and Collingwood (1985: 252); junior synonyms kutteri
(Messor semirufus var kutteri, Santschi, 1934d: 1275,
worker) from Italy; and, nigricans (Messor semirufus
var nigriceps, Santschi, 1929e: 144, replacement name nigricans,
Santschi, 1932f: 517) from Israel; synonymy Baroni Urbani,
1974: 227); .
André's (1883b) description briefly states - "whole of
body red variably paler with the gaster only blackish brown; size
large, head almost smooth posteriorly; pronotum finely rugose;
propodeal teeth variable, sometimes well developed; distribution -
edges of the Caspian Sea, Syria, Persia, Ethiopia". Possibly the
Ethiopia record was of Messor galla.
Santschi (1927c) gave a fresh description, noting that
the André types had disappeared; this is at  . Santschi's (1934d) note on kutteri
is at  .
Collingwood (1985: 252, and in his key (p 248) has this
as "1. with a distinct psammophore ... 3. the first funiculus segment
distinctly broader and much longer than second, propodeum rounded,
angulate or broadly dentate ... 4. first gaster tergite sith few short
hairs or none ... 7 & 9 bicoloured species with head and alitrunk
reddish, contrasting with darker gaster ... 12. maximum head width 2.5
mm or more .. 13. head and alitrunk bright yellowish red". the last
couplet separates it from M. galla with the head wine or
brownish red, slitrunk often darker.
I have separated Messor obscurior as being
smaller, darker and more heavily striate on the alitrunk, etc.
(unavailable
name Messor barbarus
r. semirufus var. obscurior, Crawley, 1920a: 164, from
Iraq).
The Baroni Urbani (1974) synonymy can be seen at  .
The list was largely reversed almost immediately and appears to be a
classic case of "lumpers versus splitters". All depends on
whether one accepts a "species" as variable or not. It seems worth
noting that Thomé & Thomé (1981), who Bolton (1995) listed as the
authorities for reversing some of the Baroni Urbani synonymies do not
refer to the latter's paper.
|
The photomontage of a "cotype" major
worker, from Syria, postdating the André specimens,
is collated from