Tapinoma fragile F Smith

Type location Rodriguez Island, Mauritius (Tapinoma fragile, F Smith, 1876a: 447, worker), collector Gulliver, 1874.

F Smith's (1876a) description is at .

The photomontage of a syntype specimen from Mauritius is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0102974. Collection Information: Locality; Mauritius, Mascarene Islands, Rodriguez Island (Rodrigues); collector G Gulliver; Collection codes: ANTC5335; BMNH specimen. See a brief description of the Venus Transit Expedition Expedition of 1874 http://kepler.nasa.gov/ed/ss/venustransitarticle1874.html

Oxford University Museum specimens

Tapinoma fragile B Taylor det.

Maldives M Aita

2008 Ihuru Island 4°18'36" N 73°25'26" E

North Malé Atoll; foraging on the ground

3

The photomontage is of specimens from The Maldives, North Malé Atoll, Ihuru Island, 4°18'36"N 73°25'26"E, 2008, collected by Marco Aita. Collected foraging on the ground.

This appears to be highly significant as only the second record of a species known solely from isolated Indian Ocean Islands with coral sand soil. Fisher (2005) excluded Rodrigues Island native species from a list of the indigenous ants of mainland Mauritius. [Fisher, B. L. 2005. A New Species of Discothyrea Roger from Mauritius and a New Species of Proceratium Roger from Madagascar (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 56, 657-667]