Search

Disjunctitermes insularis gen. n. & sp. n. is described from workers collected on Guadeloupe and in Peru and is the first soldierless termite found on a deep-water island. As with many soldierless and soil-feeding termite species, the enteric valve morphology is an essential diagnostic character of D. insularis. The D. insularis sequence cluster, derived from a barcode analysis with twelve other described genera of New World Apicotermitinae, is well resolved. Results of a stochastic dynamic spread model suggest that the occurrence of D. insularis on Guadeloupe may be the result of a pre-Colombian overwater dispersal event from mainland South America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new genus and species of nasutitermitine termites are described and illustrated, based on soldier and worker characters. Sinqasapatermes gen. n., can be distinguished from all other nasutitermitine genera by its singular worker gut coiling and enteric valve characters: distal margin of the enteric valve not everted into the paunch but bending towards the ileum, that is, directed against the flow of food; enteric valve armature with one ring of six equal subtriangularly-shaped ridges, each ridge with short spines on the entire surface; enteric valve armature situated on external face of cone, facing the internal ileum wall; enteric valve seating tri-lobed and separated from remaining portion of the paunch; paunch subdivided. Sinqasapatermes sachae sp. n., was collected on a tree in a very narrow flattened tunnel that was well concealed beneath lichens in a northern Peru rainforest (Arcadia, Loreto Province). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]