Formica fragilis

Smith, F., 1859, Catalogue of hymenopterous insects collected by Mr. A. R. Wallace at the Islands of Aru and Key., Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 3, pp. 132-158 : 136

3. Formica fragilis .

F. pallide testacea, elongata et gracilis, capite postice angustato; thorace medio compresso, pedibus elongatis; squama incrassata triangulata.

Worker. Length 3 1 / 2 lines. Pale rufo-testaceous, smooth and slightly shining; antennae elongate, longer than the body, the flagellum slender and filiform, the scape nearly as long as the head and thorax; head oblong, narrowed behind the eyes into a kind of neck, the sides parallel before the eyes, which are black and round, the clypeus slightly emarginate anteriorly, the mandibles finely serrated on their inner margin and terminating in a bent acute tooth. Thorax elongate, narrowest in the middle, the prothorax forming a neck anteriorly; legs elongate and very slender. Abdomen ovate, the node of the petiole incrassate, and viewed sideways is triangular or wedge-shaped.

Hab. Aru.

This is one of those remarkable forms which recede so greatly from the normal type of Formica as apparently to indicate a generic distinction; but in those exotic species of which we have obtained all the forms, we find many which approach closely to the present insect, which is probably only the small worker of some already described species. No one would venture, without the authority of the personal observation of some competent naturalist, to unite all the forms of any exotic species of Fornica .