• Bingham, 1903: 279 (s.q.).
• Combination in Messor: Bingham, 1903: 278.
• As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1921c: 71.
• Junior synonym of Messor barbarus: Tiwari, 1999: 38 (error).
• Subspecies of Messor capitatus: Emery, 1893m: 101.
• Subspecies of Messor barbarus: Forel, 1903a: 694; Bingham, 1903: 278; Forel, 1906b: 86; Emery, 1922d: 94; Emery, 1924a: 8; Wheeler, 1926a: 3; Karavaiev, 1926b: 100; Karavaiev, 1927a: 287; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 137.
• Status as species: Mayr, 1863a: 396; Smith, 1871a: 333; Santschi, 1923f: 325; Santschi, 1927d: 247 (in key); Wheeler, 1927g: 103; Santschi, 1931a: 4; Santschi, 1936c: 200; Menozzi, 1939a: 297; Eidmann, 1942a: 246; Cagniant, 1964: 87; Pisarski, 1967a: 383; Pisarski, 1970a: 306; Bolton, 1995b: 254; Vonshak & Ionescu-Hirsch, 2010: 42; Borowiec, 2014: 107; Bharti et al., 2016: 38; Rasheed et al., 2019: 432; Bodlah et al., 2019: 2 (redescription).
• Senior synonym of Messor barbarus punctata: Bingham, 1903: 279; Pisarski, 1967a: 383; Pisarski, 1970a: 306; Bolton, 1995b: 254.

Junior synonyms

• Messor barbarus punctata (Forel, 1886)
  Obsolete combination(s): Aphaenogaster barbara punctata

Obsolete combinations

• Atta instabilis
• Messor barbarus instabilis

Citations

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• Bodlah, I.; Rasheed, M. T.; Huang, X.; Gull-e-Fareen, A.; Siddiqui, J. A.; Bodlah, M. A. 2019. First records of two species of genus Messor Forel, 1890 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) along with trophic associations with aphids from Pothwar region of Pakistan. The Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences 29 (4):7 pp. PDF
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