Research Article |
Corresponding author: Daniel Castro Torres ( danielkaz80@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Eliana Cancello
© 2019 Daniel Castro Torres, Rudolf Scheffrahn.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Castro Torres D, Scheffrahn R (2019) A new species of Acorhinotermes Emerson, 1949 (Blattodea, Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae) from Colombia, with a key to Neotropical Rhinotermitinae species based on minor soldiers. ZooKeys 891: 61-70. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.891.37523
|
Acorhinotermes Emerson, 1949 is the only Neotropical Rhinotermitine genus with no major soldier. Herein Acorhinotermes claritae Castro & Scheffrahn, sp. nov. is described based on minor soldiers and an alate nymph collected in a secondary rain forest in the Colombian Amazon. The minor soldier of A. claritae Castro & Scheffrahn, sp. nov. has longer mandibular points and it is comparatively smaller than A. subfusciceps. An illustrated key to the minor soldiers of the Neotropical species of Rhinotermitinae is presented.
Colombian Amazon, Dolichorhinotermes, Rhinotermes, taxonomy, termites
The subfamily Rhinotermitinae Froggatt, 1897 comprises worldwide the genera Parrhinotermes Holmgren, 1910, Macrorhinotermes Holmgren, 1913, Schedorhinotermes Silvestri, 1909, Rhinotermes Hagen, 1858, Dolichorhinotermes Snyder & Emerson, 1949, and Acorhinotermes Emerson, 1949. The last three genera are recorded from the Neotropical region (
Acorhinotermes subfusciceps was originally described within the genus Rhinotermes (
Colombia has very few records of species of the subfamily Rhinotermitinae, only Rhinotermes hispidus Emerson, 1925 and Rhinotermes marginalis (Linnaeus, 1758) are reported (
In this paper, we describe a new species Acorhinotermes claritae sp. nov. based on characters from the minor soldier and alate nymph. We provide as well as an illustrated key for the Neotropical Rhinotermitinae based on the minor soldier caste, which would be very helpful when major soldiers or imagoes are not represented in the collected samples.
Specimens of Acorhinotermes claritae sp. nov. were collected in trucks of dead trees with aspirators, at weet season (July 12–19, 2018), in the southern state of Amazonas, Colombia, and preserved in 95% ethanol. The holotype and paratypes are deposited in the “Colección de Artrópodos Terrestres de la Amazonía Colombiana”, SINCHI Amazon Institute of Scientific Research, Leticia, Amazonas, Colombia (CATAC). Paratypes are also deposited in the Termite Collection, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Davie, Florida, United States of America (
Additional material examined for the Rhinotermitine species key is deposited in the UF and the CATAC, as follows: Acorhinotermes subfusciceps, PERU, (-9.05222, -75.57818), 30/05/2014, R. Scheffrahn col., 376 m (PN.799.0); Dolichorhinotermes lanciarius Engel & Krishna, 2007, PERU, (-11.06414, -74.71955), 25/05/2014, R. Scheffrahn col., 602 m (PN.104.0); Dolichorhinotermes longidens, PANAMA, (9.34349, -79.77382), 4/06/2005, R. Scheffrahn col., 216 m (PN.684.0); Dolichorhinotermes longilabius (Emerson, 1924), FRENCH GUYANA, (5.03784, -52.95580), 7/02/2008, J. Krêcêk col., 87 m (FG.181.0); Rhinotermes hispidus, BOLIVIA (-16.99937, -65.62736), 26/05/2013, R. Scheffrahn col., 491 m (BO. 163.0); Rhinotermes marginalis, BOLIVIA, (-16.97043, -65.21001), 26/05/2013, col. R. Scheffrahn, 231 m (BO. 76.0); Dolichorhinotermes longilabius, COLOMBIA, (4.343416, -69.98627), col. L. Pinedo, 101 m (CATAC-03314); Rhinotermes hispidus, COLOMBIA (3.8210, -67.81041), 16/03/2019, col. J. Chase, 98 m (CATAC-03687); Rhinotermes marginalis, COLOMBIA, (-3.80044, -70.31533), col. J. Chase, 76 m (CATAC-03558). In the other hand,
Morphological characters used for the alate nymph and minor soldier follows
Holotype. Minor soldier from colony CATAC 2722.
COLOMBIA: Amazonas, Leticia (-4.08975, -69.92705).
Paratypes. COLOMBIA, Amazonas, Leticia, (-4.08975, -69.92705): 12.VII.2018, James Chase col., 87 m, 1 alate nymph, 45 minor soldiers, 156 workers (CATAC 2722); 12.VII.2018, Daniela Manso col., 87 m, 11 minor soldiers, 56 workers (CATAC 2723); (-4.08900, -69.92497): 12.VII.2018, James Chase col., 91 m, 5 minor soldiers, 2 workers (CATAC 2724); (-4.04875, -70.00527): 13.VII.2018, Daniela Manso col., 106 m, 33 minor soldiers, 41 workers (CATAC 2750); (-4.04972, -69.92704): Daniel Castro col, 97 m, 5 minor soldiers, 4 workers (UF no. CO 918).
Minor soldier head with concave lateral margins forming a posterior constriction, with prominent mandibular points extend beyond the fontanelle.
Alate nymph. (Fig.
Measurements (mm) for a single alate nymph: head length with labrum 1.27, head length to postclypeus 1.46, maximum width of the head with eyes 1.39, width of head without eyes 1.21, diameter of eye 0.25, ocellus diameter 0.08, length of pronotum 0.78, width of pronotum 1.36, total body-length without wings 6.81.
Comparisons. Acorhinotermes claritae sp. nov. has more abundant bristles in lateral view. The ocelli and eyes are smaller than the A. subfusciceps imago, and the clypeal projection projects more acutely in A. claritae sp. nov. and it is not buttressed by a frontal projection as in A. subfusciceps (Fig.
Minor soldier. (Fig.
Measurements (mm) of 10 minor soldiers from three colonies of Acorhinotermes claritae sp. nov.
Holotype | CATAC 2722 | CATAC 2723 | CATAC 2724 | ||||
Range | Mean ± SD | Range | Mean ± SD | Range | Mean ± SD | ||
Max head width | 0.53 | 0.45–0.58 | 0.53±0.05 | 0.53–0.63 | 0.58±0.03 | 0.55–0.66 | 0.59±0.03 |
Length head with labrum | 1.30 | 1.18–1.36 | 1.31±0.06 | 1.23–1.38 | 1.32±0.05 | 1.23–1.40 | 1.28±0.05 |
Length of labrum | 0.66 | 0.57–0.68 | 0.63±0.05 | 0.59–0.73 | 0.66±0.07 | 0.60–0.69 | 0.63±0.03 |
Pronotum width | 0.42 | 0.39–0.46 | 0.43±0.03 | 0.43–0.49 | 0.47±0.02 | 0.44–0.56 | 0.48±0.04 |
Pronotum length | 0.28 | 0.24–0.33 | 0.29±0.03 | 0.25–0.37 | 0.31±0.03 | 0.29–0.34 | 0.31±0.02 |
Length of hind tibia | 0.84 | 0.81–0.89 | 0.85±0.03 | 0.77–0.88 | 0.82±0.03 | 0.80–0.93 | 0.84±0.04 |
Comparisons. Acorhinotermes claritae sp. nov. is smaller and has longer mandibular points than A. subfusciceps. In profile, the dorsa of the occiput, vertex, and labrum of A. claritae sp. nov. form a nearly straight line, while in A. subfusciceps this profile forms an obtuse angle (Fig.
Acorhinotermes claritae sp. nov. was collected in a secondary rain forest near the Tacana river, close to a “chagra” (indigenous agricultural production system). During the wet season, these areas are in flood zones. The colonies were found in trunks of dead trees and in big dry branches on the ground. One particular colony of this species was found in a same dead branch together with Heterotermes tenuis (Hagen, 1858) and Cylindrotermes parvignatus Emerson, 1949, and another colony with Silvestritermes gnomus (Constantino, 1991). Acorhinotermes claritae sp. nov. was collected in a unique locality near the city of Leticia, although we did surveys in other two sites of a radius no greater than 15 km, it was not collected.
The genus Acorhinotermes is distributed in the Amazon basin, Guiana shield and Caatinga (Fig.
The species is named in honor of Dr. Clara (Clarita) Peña-Venegas, who has supported and promoted the knowledge and inventories of termites and other terrestrial arthropods from the Colombian Amazon in the SINCHI Institute.
1 | In dorsal view, fontanelle anterior to mandibular lobes (bases of mandibular points) (Figs |
2 |
– | In dorsal view, fontanelle at or posterior to mandibular lobes (Figs |
3 |
2 | Mandibular points extend beyond the fontanelle (Fig. |
A. claritae sp. nov. |
– | Mandibular points do not extend beyond the fontanelle (Fig. |
A. subfusciceps |
3 | Mandibles points reduced to minute points on basal lobes (Fig. |
4 |
– | Long mandible points prominent, directed upward and forward (Fig. |
5 |
4 | Smaller species: head length less than 1.10 mm. Panama (Fig. |
D. longidens |
– | Larger species: head length more than 1.47 mm. South America (see |
D. lanciarius |
5 | Length of head to tip of labrum 1.35 mm or less | 6 |
– | Length of head to tip of labrum 1.45 mm or more | 7 |
6 | Middle of anterior margin of pronotum with numerous short bristles, small mandibles do not exceed the base of the labrum, not visible from the dorsal view (see |
D. japuraensis |
– | Middle of anterior margin of pronotum smooth, without numerous short bristles, large mandibles reaching up to the middle of the labrum, visible from the dorsal view (Fig. |
D. longilabius |
7 | In lateral view, about 4–10 setae visible on vertex, labrum very elongated and narrow with a slight depression at its base (Fig. |
8 |
– | In lateral view, about 20–30 setae visible on vertex, labrum elongated and width without depression at its base (Fig. |
9 |
8 | Head in dorsal view with a defined constriction behind antennae (Fig. |
R. marginalis , R. nasutus |
– | Head in dorsal view without constriction behind antennae, posterior margin of the head rounded (see |
D. tenebrosus |
9 | Head length to labrum tip 1.70–1.93 mm (Fig. |
R. hispidus |
– | Head length to labrum tip 2.20–2.35 mm (See: |
R. manni |
In our Colombian survey, about 102 minor soldiers were collected without a single major soldier reinforces our belief that the latter caste is absent from A. claritae sp. nov. Among genera of the subfamily Rhinotermitinae, Dolichorhinotermes has been the most common in the Amazon region surveys, followed by Rhinotermes and then Acorhinotermes (Castro unpubl. data;
In the key to genera of Neotropical termites,
A special thanks to James A. Chase for sponsoring the field trip. Thanks to Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas SINCHI and to Dr. Clara Peña-Venegas for the logistics support to collect the material. We also thank to the survey team: James Chase, Daniela Manso and Lewis Pinedo. We heartily thank Dr. Mauricio Rocha, Dr. Carolina Cuezzo and anonymous reviewer for their useful comments and suggestions on the manuscript.
The key does not include the fossil species Dolichorhinotermes apopnus Engel & Krishna, 2007, Dolichorhinotermes dominicanus Schlemmermeyer & ancello, 2000, and Rhinotermes miocenicus Nel & Paicheler, 1993.
The species Dolichorhinotermes latilabrum (Snyder, 1926) and Dolichorhinotermes neli Ensaf & Betsch, 2002 were not included in this key because we suspect they are junior synonyms of Dolichorhinotermes longilabius (Emerson, 1924).
These species cannot be separated only with the minor soldier. It is necessary the imago or the major soldier caste.