• As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1891c: 12.
• Subspecies of Messor capitatus: Dalla Torre, 1893: 101.
• Subspecies of Messor barbarus: Forel, 1894b: 89; Forel, 1903a: 694; Wheeler, 1922: 803.
• Junior synonym of Messor barbarus: Tiwari, 1999: 38 (error).
• Junior synonym of Messor instabilis: Bingham, 1903: 279; Pisarski, 1967a: 383; Pisarski, 1970a: 306; Bolton, 1995b: 256.

Obsolete combinations

• Aphaenogaster barbara punctata

Citations

• Bingham, C. T. 1903. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera, Vol. II. Ants and Cuckoo-wasps. London: Taylor and Francis, 506 pp. PDF
• Bolton, B. 1995b. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp.
• Dalla Torre, K. W. 1893. Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. Vol. 7. Formicidae (Heterogyna). Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 289 pp. PDF
• Emery, C. 1891c. Exploration scientifique de la Tunisie. Zoologie. - Hyménoptères. Révision critique des fourmis de la Tunisie. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, iii + 21 pp. PDF
• Forel, A. 1886d. Indian ants of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, No. 2. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Part II. Natural Science 55:239-249. PDF
• Forel, A. 1894b. Abessinische und andere afrikanische Ameisen, gesammelt von Herrn Ingenieur Alfred Ilg, von Herrn Dr. Liengme, von Herrn Pfarrer Missionar P. Berthoud, Herrn Dr. Arth. Müller etc. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 9:64-100. PDF
• Forel, A. 1903a. Les Formicides de l'Empire des Indes et de Ceylan. Part X. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 14:679-715. PDF
• Pisarski, B. 1967a. Fourmis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) d'Afghanistan récoltées par M. Dr. K. Lindberg. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 24:375-425. PDF
• Pisarski, B. 1970a ("1969"). Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Fauna Afghanistans. (Sammelergebnisse von O. Jakes 1963-64, D. Povolny 1965, D. Povolny & Fr. Tenora 1966, J. Simek 1965-66, D. Povolny, J. Gaisler, Z. Sebek & Fr. Tenora 1967). Formicidae, Hym. Casopis Moravského Musea v Brne 54(Suppl.):305-326. PDF
• Tiwari, R. N. 1999. Taxonomic studies on ants of southern India (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Memoirs of the Zoological Survey of India 18(4):1-96. PDF
• Wheeler, W. M. 1922. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. New York: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 1139.