A new species of Acorhinotermes Emerson, 1949 (Blattodea, Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae) from Colombia, with a key to Neotropical Rhinotermitinae species based on minor soldiers.

Daniel Castro Torres,Rudolf Scheffrahn

doi:10.3897/zookeys.891.37523

Abstract

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.

Highlights

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
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

Summary

Introduction

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. Acorhinotermes subfusciceps was originally described within the genus Rhinotermes (Emerson 1925; Snyder 1949). Emerson in Snyder (1949) transferred Rhinotermes subfusciceps to a new genus, Acorhinotermes, straightening the absence of the major soldier as a diagnostic characteristic of the genus. Colombia has very few records of species of the subfamily Rhinotermitinae, only Rhinotermes hispidus Emerson, 1925 and Rhinotermes marginalis (Linnaeus, 1758) are reported (Pinzón et al 2017; Constantino 2019). All Rhinotermitinae species except Dolichorhinotermes longidens (Snyder, 1924) are found in the Amazon Region 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

Materials and methods

Discussion