Abstract
A new species of drywood termite (Kalotermitidae), Cryptotermes colombianus, is described and new records for Cryptotermes cylindroceps and Cryptotermes mangoldi are presented from the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Cryptotermes colombianus is described from two soldiers and genetic sequences. This unusual species differs noticeably from other regional Cryptotermes species for its weak and inconspicuous definition of the frontal and genal horns and its acute angle of the frons with respect to the vertex. Cryptotermes colombianus clustered with species from the Ethiopian and Oriental region and it is closely related to Cryptotermes havilandi. Cryptotermes cylindroceps is widely distributed along the Colombian Caribbean coast, commonly associated with dead wood in mangrove habitats. It also is commonly found in wooden furniture, constituting an important household pest. Cryptotermes mangoldi is reported from the Caribbean mainland for the first time.With these new records, there are now five Cryptotermes species for Colombia, including the pest species Cryptotermes brevis and Cryptotermes dudleyi. This new description raises the numbers of Neotropical Cryptotermes to a total of 34 species, of which 2 are fossils, 4 introduced, and 28 endemic.
Highlights
We extend the distribution of Crytotermes to Colombia and we report C. mangoldi for the first time, along the Caribbean coast (Figure 3)
We found C. cylindroceps in infested drywood trunks of Glírícidia sepium, Prosopis juliflora, Manilkara zapota, Hura crepitans and Avicennia germinalis, which are often used for wooden artefacts, furniture and as structural material (Figure 4)
C. cylindroceps was common in dead branches and trunks of the black mangrove, Avicennia germinalis
Summary
Cryptotermes is one of the best studied and economically most significant genus of drywood termites (Krishna 1961, Chhotani 1970, Gay and Watson 1982, Lenz et al 1985, Bacchus 1987, Constantino 1998, Scheffrahn and Křeček 1999, Korb 2009, Krishna et al 2013). Cryptotermes has been poorly studied in Colombia, only three species have been recorded: Cryptotermes brevis (Walker 1853), Cryptotermes dudleyi Banks 1918, and Cryptotermes cylindroceps Scheffrahn and Křeček 1999, (Gile et al 2011). C. dudleyi has been introduced to the Neotropics and often appears in disturbed outdoor habitats (Scheffrahn and Křeček 1999, Constantino 2002) and C. brevis whose origin was established for the Atacama Desert region of coastal northern Chile and southern Peru is widespread in the Neotropics, (Scheffrahn et al 2009). Until this study Cryptotermes mangoldi Scheffrahn and Křeček 1999, was only known from the Dominican Republic
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