Messor minor hesperius

Messor minor hesperius
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Stenammini
Genus:	Messor
Species:	M. minor
Subspecies:	M. minor hesperius
Trinomial name
	Messor minor hesperius; Santschi, 1927

Identification

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 28.494722° to 27.774167°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Canary Islands (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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.

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.

Biology

Castes

Nomenclature

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

hesperius. Messor minor var. hesperius Santschi, 1927c: 235 (w.q.m.) SPAIN (Canary Is).
- Type-material: 5 syntype workers, 2 syntype queens, 1 syntype male.
- Type-locality: Spain: Canary Is, Tenerife, Medano (Xaxars).
- Type-depository: NHMB.
- Status as species: Cagniant & Espadaler, 1998: 424 (in text); Borowiec, L. 2014: 106.
- Subspecies of minor: Menozzi, 1929a: 3; Báez & Ortega, 1978: 190; Bolton, 1995b: 254; Barech, et al. 2020: 16.
- Distribution: Spain (Canary Is).

Taxonomic Notes

Barech et al., 2020: New specimens received since 1997 (in particular from Corsica and Tunisia) show that the shape of the petiole (more or less truncated above) is variable from one population to another and to a lesser extent, within the same population. This is why, considering that M. minor has a relatively wide distribution (Italy, France, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Canary Islands), we prefer to demote the Canarian population to the rank of geographically circumscribed population of M. minor, that is to say a subspecies.

Description

References

Barech, G., Khaldi, M., Espadaler, X., Cagniant, H. 2020. Révision taxonomique du genre Messor (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) au Maghreb et description de Messor hodnii sp. n., une nouvelle espèce de fourmi trouvée en Algérie. Revue suisse de Zoologie 127(1) : 9-19 (doi:10.35929/RSZ.0002).
Borowiec, L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions. Genus 25 (1-2): 1-340.
Cagniant, H. & Espadaler, X. 1998. Le genre Messor au Maroc. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 33 (1997): 419-434.
Orou, N., Csősz, S., Arnan, X., Pol, R. G., Arthofer, W., Schlick-Steiner, B. C., Steiner, F. M. 2023. Messor erwini sp. n., a hitherto cryptic harvester ant in the Iberian Peninsula. Zoologischer Anzeiger 307, 36–53 (doi:10.1016/j.jcz.2023.09.001).
Santschi, F. 1927d. Revision des Messor du groupe instabilis Sm. (Hymenopt.). Bol. R. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 27: 225-250 (page 235, worker, queen, male described)