Disjunctitermes insularis, a new soldierless termite genus and species (Isoptera, Termitidae, Apicotermitinae) from Guadeloupe and Peru.

Rudolf H Scheffrahn,Tiago F Carrijo,Anthony C Postle,Francesco Tonini

doi:10.3897/zookeys.665.11599

Rudolf H Scheffrahn, Tiago F Carrijo + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.665.11599

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Abstract

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.

Highlights

All New World species of the soil-feeding termite subfamily Apicotermitinae lack soldiers
Disjunctitermes is closest to A. banksi, but can be distinguished from the latter by the subsidiary tooth on the left mandible, the larger enteric valve (EV) seating and the more truncate terminus of P2 (Fig. 3C, D)
The molecular phylogeny performed with the mitochondrial gene c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) clearly clustered D. insularis specimens from Guadeloupe and Peru, as well as specimens belonging to the same species of other genera (Fig. 5)

Summary

Introduction

All New World species of the soil-feeding termite subfamily Apicotermitinae lack soldiers. The absence of the soldier caste has historically hindered the classification of this diverse group until the gradual adoption of worker digestive tract characters, especially the enteric valve (EV) morphology allowing for genus and species level discrimination (Bourguignon et al 2016a, b). In 1999, as part of our ongoing diversity study of the West Indies (Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Is.: Scheffrahn et al 2003a, Trinidad: Scheffrahn et al 2003b, and the Bahamas: Scheffrahn et al 2006) we surveyed Guadeloupe and were astonished to collect numerous samples of a small soldierless termite species. In 2014, we collected a single sample of this same species in the Peruvian Amazon. We describe a new genus, Disjunctitermes, a single new species, D. insularis, discuss its remarkable distribution, and estimate its dispersal rate on Guadeloupe

Materials and methods

Discussion