20. Trigona thoracica Smith, 1857

Trigona thoracica Smith, 1857: 50, ♀.

Type material examined

Possible syntype

MALAYSIA • ♀; Mal-ca [Malacca]; [13 Jul.–25 Sep. 1854]; NHMUK, Type 17b, 1181 (examined by photograph) .

Type locality

Singapore.

Notes

This species was not dealt with by Baker (1993). There are no specimens of T. thoracica in the OUMNH collection. Rasmussen (2008: 12) states that the type is in the NHMUK as type 17b, 1181, and whilst available images show a specimen with a white disc label and Smith’s handwriting on typical blue paper, the label indicates “Mal-ca”, presumably Malacca rather than Singapore, the stated type locality. The specimen also bears an accession label reading “F. Sm. Coll. 79.22” and “ type ”, indicating that it came from the personal collection of Smith. Its syntypic status is somewhat ambiguous, but can probably be accepted as valid.

Current status

Geniotrigona thoracica (Smith, 1857) (Rasmussen 2008) .

Distribution

Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia (Peninsula, Borneo), Singapore, Indonesia (Sumatra), Brunei (Rasmussen 2008; Ascher et al. 2022).