A New Species of Discothyrea Roger from Mauritius and

lonizers continued to modify habitat at an alarming rate (Lorence and Sussman 1986). The dense Mauritian forests were converted into tea and sugar plantations in the 19 century. During this time, habitat modification on Mauritius reached to almost every corner of the island (Safford 1997). Mauritius is an instructive example of what could happen to other insular environments, such as Madagascar, if habitat destruction is left unchecked. On Mauritius, as on Madagascar, invasive plant and animal species pose major problems. Once established, many invasive ants in Mauritius may be virtually impossible to eradicate, thus preventing the return of native ants (Holway et al. 2002). The known native ant fauna of Mauritius includes 18 valid species, with 9 endemic to the island (Table 1). It is interesting that the endemic ants are all confined to upland forest. One could conclude that Mauritius has few endemics all of which are on mountaintops. On the other hand, these endemics could be t