Messor oertzeni Forel 1910

Messor oertzeni Forel, 1910 Figs 11, 12 Material examined. Bulgaria • 1 g. (pin), Struma valley, Rupite; 41°27.12'N, 23°16.05'E, alt. 91 m, 23 Aug. 2025, leg. A. Lapeva-Gjonova, Catalog Number: BFUS -I-AG 003234 (BFUS). Redescription. Gyne (N = 1). Measurements: HL 3.37; HW 2.50; HL / HW 1.35; SL 2.28; SL / HW 0.91; EL 0.64; MW 2.40; PSL 0.66; PTL 1.43; PTH 1.03; PTH / PTL 0.72; WL 4.56; HFL 3.09; HFL / WL 0.68. Colour. Head reddish, with posterior head corners, a medial band extending from posterior head margin to central part of clypeus, antennal fossae, and clypeal margins dark brown to black. Antennae uniformly reddish. Mesosoma, waist and gaster black. Legs with coxae and median portion of femora dark brown to black; remaining parts reddish to brown. Head. Rectangular, longer than wide (HL / HW 1.35); sides subparallel. Posterior corners of head rounded; posterior margin straight. Clypeus with appressed pubescence and few short, erect setae. Anterior clypeal margin slightly convex, finely crenulate, without a median emargination, bearing row of ten long, yellowish marginal setae. Central plate and clypeal alae with longitudinal rugae, lacking median keel; interspaces smooth and shiny. Eyes small, broadly oval (EL 0.643 mm). Frontal triangle shallowly impressed, with longitudinal rugae and smooth, shiny interspaces. Frontal carinae extending beyond frontal lobes and merging with one of semicircular antennal rugae. Frons approximately one-third of width of head. Antennal fossa deep, completely surrounded by semicircular rugae; surface smooth and shiny. Head with extremely dense longitudinal striation, slightly divergent around eyes and in occipital corners. Genae, lateral sides of head and occipital region with moderately dense and short decumbent to semierect setae, longest in occipital corners with length 0.205. Ventral part of head with numerous, semierect setae of various lengths, straight to occasionally C-shaped, which do not form a distinct psammophore. Antennae elongated, 0.91 as long as head width. At its base, the scape is strongly extended, forming rounded outer and subangulate inner angles. In a frontal view, the apical part of the scape is slightly curved with a preapical constriction. Funiculus distinctly longer than scape, pedicel moderately elongated, approximately 2.2 × as long as wide at apex, flattened dorsoventrally, approximately 0.75 × as long as segments 2 and 3 combined and 1.43 × as long as segment 2. Scape with microreticulation, shiny, covered with short, dense, setae, decumbent to subdecumbent. Mandibles rounded, shiny surface with deep grooves with dense yellow setae, cutting edge with large, sharp teeth. Mesosoma. Stout and moderately long, approximately 2 × as long as wide (WL / MW 1.9). Pronotum is not visible from above and is rounded at the sides. Its anterior slope with transverse rugae, lateral sides covered with longitudinal rugae, interspaces smooth and shiny. Scutum slightly convex above pronotal plate. Its surface smooth and shiny on most convex central and lateral areas and longitudinally striate in areas between them. Scutellum slightly convex, longitudinally striate, shiny. Anepisternum, katepisternum and lateral sides of propodeum with longitudinal rugae; interspaces smooth and shiny. Metanotum and posterior slope of propodeum with distinct, regular, transverse rugae. Propodeal spines moderately long, in form of triangular teeth, PSL 0.66. Dorsal surface of scutum covered in dense, long, yellowish setae, the longest of 0.401 mm; sparser on scutellum, and shortest on dorsal side of propodeum. Waist and gaster. Petiole elongate, with long peduncle and moderately high triangular node, thin, PTH / PTL 0.72, peduncle, and anterior face of node with microreticulation, and posterior face on the top with sharp transverse rugae. Upper margin of petiole slightly emarginate, top and posterior face with erect yellow setae. Postpetiole rounded in lateral view, globular in dorsal view, 0.76 × as wide as petiole, anterior face finely striate, lateral and posterior faces reticulate, with long, erect, backward-directed setae. First gastral tergite entirely microreticulate; surface shiny, covered with short appressed setae together with moderately long, subdecumbent to semierect setae, longest reaching 0.294 in length. Legs. Elongate; femora slightly swollen medially, tibiae moderately widened preapically, mid and hind tarsi longer than tibiae. Femora microreticulate, dorsally with decumbent setae, laterally with decumbent to subdecumbent, ventrally with subdecumbent to semierect setae. Tibiae with dense, decumbent to subdecumbent setae.