Extant: 1 valid subspecies
Aphaenogaster barbara var. aralocaspia Ruzsky, 1902c: 20 (w.) KAZAKHSTAN. Palearctic. AntCat AntWiki HOLTaxonomic history
Karavaiev, 1911a PDF: 63 (q.m.); Stitz, 1930a PDF: 240 (q.).Combination in Aphaenogaster (Messor): Ruzsky, 1905b: 745.Combination in Messor: Emery, 1908f PDF: 449.As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Ruzsky, 1905b: 745; Emery, 1908f PDF: 449; Karavaiev, 1911a PDF: 62; Emery, 1921c PDF: 71; Emery, 1922d PDF: 94; Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1923b PDF: 257; Ruzsky, 1923: 4; Stitz, 1930a PDF: 240.Subspecies of Messor barbarus: Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1927a PDF: 90 (in key); Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929d PDF: 16.Subspecies of Messor minor: Santschi, 1927d PDF: 239; Santschi, 1927e PDF: 247; Finzi, 1936 PDF: 159.Status as species: Pisarski, 1967a PDF: 384; Pisarski, 1969b: 306; Pisarski, 1970a PDF: 306; Tarbinsky, 1976 PDF: 65 (redescription); Arnol'di, 1977b PDF: 1642 (in key); Dlussky, 1981b PDF: 17; Collingwood, 1985 PDF: 248; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a PDF: 54; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b PDF: 270 (in key); Dlussky et al., 1990 PDF: 218; Bolton, 1995b: 252; Collingwood & Agosti, 1996 PDF: 315; Collingwood & Heatwole, 2002 PDF: 7; Petrov, 2006 PDF: 91 (in key); Schultz et al., 2006 PDF: 206; He & Song, 2009 PDF: 722; Karaman, 2011b PDF: 36; Guénard & Dunn, 2012 PDF: 45; Borowiec, 2014 PDF: 101 (see note in bibliography).Material of the unavailable name Messor minor aralocaspius tamerlani referred here by Dlussky et al., 1990 PDF: 218.