Messor meridionalis

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Messor meridionalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Stenammini
Genus: Messor
Species group: instabilis
Species complex: wasmanni
Species: M. meridionalis
Binomial name
Messor meridionalis
(André, 1883)

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Specimen Labels

The taxonomic identity of Messor meridionalis is uncertain (it is a species dubium), its type series probably contains specimens belonging to the more than one species. Most records of M. meridionalis probably concern Messor wasmanni (Borowiec, 2014).

Identification

André (1883b) - "Var. meridionalis. Entièrement noire ou brun de poix avec le thorax d'un rouge obscur. Taille moyenne. Tète plus ou moins luisante, parfois légèrement striée ; pronotum transversalement ridé ; metanotum à peine denté." [=Var. meridionalis. Entirely black or pitch brown with dark red thorax. Midsized. Head more or less shiny, sometimes slightly striated; pronotum transversely wrinkled; barely toothed metanotum.]

Collingwood and Agosti (1996) - HW 2.3-2.6; EL/HW 0.204-0.223. This bicoloured species known from Afghanistan (Pisarki 1967) and most of the countries of the Middle East including Iraq and Iran is immediately distinguishable from Messor semirufus, Messor wasmanni and other superficially similar species by its relatively large eyes. In museum collections several different species are placed under the name M meridionalis so that there is uncertainty as to which species this name should apply.

Distribution

As the taxonomic identity of this species is uncertain so is its distribution (Salata et al., 2023). The following list is suggestive only and should not be taken as authoritative.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates.
Palaearctic Region: Afghanistan, Albania, Georgia, Greece (type locality), Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Montenegro, Oman, North Macedonia, Türkiye.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Messor meridionalis casent0249423 d 1 high.jpgMessor meridionalis casent0249423 p 1 high.jpgMessor meridionalis casent0249423 h 1 high.jpgMessor meridionalis casent0249423 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0249423. Photographer Shannon Hartman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Messor meridionalis casent0249860 p 1 high.jpgMessor meridionalis casent0249860 l 1 high.jpgMessor meridionalis casent0249860 h 1 high.jpgMessor meridionalis casent0249860 d 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0249860. Photographer Ryan Perry, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.
Messor meridionalis cfh000073 l 1 high.jpgMessor meridionalis cfh000073 h 1 high.jpgMessor meridionalis cfh000073 d 1 high.jpgMessor meridionalis cfh000073 p 1 high.jpg
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Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • meridionalis. Aphaenogaster barbara var. meridionalis André, 1883b: 355 (w.) GREECE, ALBANIA, TURKEY, ALGERIA, TUNISIA.
    • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
    • Type-localities: Greece, Albania, Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia (no further data).
    • Type-depository: MNHN.
    • [Note: Santschi, 1927c: 230, says the Greek syntypes cannot be found.]
    • Ruzsky, 1905b: 747 (q.m.); Emery, 1908e: 450 (q.).
    • Combination in Aphaenogaster (Messor): Forel, 1890a: lxx; Ruzsky, 1905b: 746;
    • combination in Stenamma (Messor): Emery, 1898c: 125;
    • combination in Messor: Emery, 1897f: 239; Emery, 1908e: 450.
    • As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1891b: 12; Forel, 1904b: 373; Forel, 1904c: 15; Ruzsky, 1905b: 746; Forel, 1906c: 190; Emery, 1922c: 94; Karavaiev, 1926b: 100; Santschi, 1926f: 287.
    • Subspecies of capitatus: Dalla Torre, 1893: 101.
    • Subspecies of barbarus: Forel, 1886e: clxviii; Forel, 1890a: lxx; Emery, 1898c: 125; Emery, 1901e: 57; Ruzsky, 1902d: 28; Ruzsky, 1903b: 315; Emery, 1908d: 23; Emery, 1908e: 450; Forel, 1910a: 24; Santschi, 1910a: 43; Karavaiev, 1910a: 270; Karavaiev, 1910b: 64; Forel, 1911d: 346; Emery, 1912f: 97; Karavaiev, 1912a: 9; Krausse, 1912b: 164; Emery, 1914d: 156; Wheeler, W.M. & Mann, 1916: 170; Emery, 1916b: 142; Karavaiev, 1916: 507; Santschi, 1917e: 90; Stitz, 1917: 343; Santschi, 1921a: 110; Menozzi, 1921: 26; Emery, 1921b: 208; Emery, 1921f: 71; Finzi, 1923: 3; Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1923: 256; Viehmeyer, 1923: 87; Ruzsky, 1923: 5; Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1927a: 90 (in key); Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929b: 45; Donisthorpe, 1950e: 1060.
    • Subspecies of instabilis: Santschi, 1923f: 325 (in text).
    • Subspecies of semirufus: Santschi, 1927c: 230; Kutter, 1927: 99; Finzi, 1928c: 788; Finzi, 1930c: 22; Santschi, 1934d: 275; Grandi, 1935: 100; Menozzi, 1936d: 276; Finzi, 1939c: 155; Santschi, 1939c: 6; Novák & Sadil, 1941: 82 (in key).
    • Subspecies of minor: Arnol'di, 1948: 211 (in list).
    • Junior synonym of semirufus: Baroni Urbani, 1974: 227.
    • Junior synonym of caducus: Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 121; Arakelian, 1994: 34; Bolton, 1995b: 255.
    • Status as species: Bondroit, 1918: 155; Müller, 1923a: 68; Müller, 1923b: 64; Cori & Finzi, 1931: 238; Collingwood, 1961a: 58; Collingwood, 1961b: 289; Baroni Urbani, 1964a: 2; Pisarski, 1967: 384; Baroni Urbani, 1968b: 434; Pisarski, 1970: 306; Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 59; Collingwood, 1978: 81 (in key); Tohmé, G. & Tohmé, H. 1981: 144; Collingwood, 1985: 251; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 54; Poldi, et al. 1995: 3; Collingwood & Agosti, 1996: 318; Werner & Wiezik, 2007: 148; Gratiashvili & Barjadze, 2008: 139; Paknia, et al. 2008: 155; Vonshak, et al. 2009: 42; Legakis, 2011: 10; Collingwood, et al. 2011: 426; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 19; Borowiec, L. 2014: 109; Tohmé, G. & Tohmé, 2014: 134; Lebas, et al. 2016: 300.
    • Distribution: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates.
    • [Note: the distribution list is merely a compilation from the literature which almost certainly does not reflect taxonomic reality.]

Taxonomic Notes

Borowiec & Salata (2020): This taxon is species dubium. According to the original description (André 1883), it was described from specimens belonging to more than one species. Location of types is unknown and before their study and designation of the lectotype the status of this species is uncertain. Recent authors assigned records of Messor meridionalis from Europe, Turkey and the Middle East to Messor wasmanni.

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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  • Al-Khalifa M. S., A. M. Ahmed, A. M. A. Mashaly, F. A. Al-Mekhafi, G. K. M. Iqbal Siddiqui, and M. Fadl Ali. 2010. Studies on the Distribution of Pachycondyla sennaarensis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae) in Saudi Arabia. 1. Ar-Riyadh Region. Pakistan J. Zool. 42(6): 707-713.
  • Aldawood AS, Sharaf MR (2011) Monomorium dryhimi sp. n., a new ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of the M. monomorium group from Saudi Arabia, with a key to the Arabian Monomorium monomorium-group. ZooKeys 106: 47–54. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.106.139
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  • Collingwood C. A., D. Agosti, M. R. Sharaf, A. Van Harten, 2011. Order Hymenoptera, family Formicidae. Arthropod Fauna of the UAE 4: 405-474
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  • 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
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