36 



W. A. SANDS 



Cameroun : im. W. of Calabar Junction on Mamfe-Ikom Road, 27. v. 1957 

 (W. Wilkinson), B.M.(N.H.). 



Central African Republic : Bengessa (Bangassou), Bas Mbomu, 12.iii.1948 

 {N.A. Weber), A.M.N.H. 



Uganda : Ruwenzori Mountains, 10m. E.N.E. of Bundibugyo, 26.viii.1952, 

 2 vials {G. 0. Evans), B.M.(N.H.). 



A total of 10 nest series were examined. 



This species occurs from Sierra Leone to Uganda. Its southward distribution 

 appears to be more limited, but this may be a reflection of its scarcity and due to 

 failure of collection rather than absence of the species. It has generally been found 

 in woody debris on the forest floor or in small runways on trees. An arboreal nest 

 has been recorded, but this may not have been of its own construction. 



Nasutitermes hirticeps sp. n. 



(Text-figs. 58-61 ; Map 3) 



Imago. Unknown. 



Soldier. Head capsule orange, nose ferruginous orange. Pronotum, antennae and abdominal 

 tergites orange-yellow, abdominal sternites and legs yellow. 



Head capsule in plan view almost circular, nose conical. In profile sinuate with distinct 

 hump at base of nose, then rather abruptly raised and rounded to back of head ; nose distinctly 

 shorter than rest of head capsule, measuring from hind margin of antennal socket, angle of nose 

 cone 11-15 degrees ; postmentum moderately and evenly convex ; antennae 13 segmented, 

 III and V subequal, IV shorter than these, but slightly longer than II. 



Entire body and head capsule including nose with long yellow setae, but confined on post- 

 mentum to anterior margin ; those on head capsule and nose scattered irregularly, nose tip 

 without any concentration of smaller setae ; anterior margin of pronotum with row of long 

 conspicuous setae ; those on posterior margins of abdominal sternites longer than other 

 abdominal setae. 



Measurements (10 specimens randomly selected from type colony) in millimetres. 



Range Mean 



Head length to tip of nose . i"53-io3 .... 1-57 



Head width . 

 Depth of head capsule 

 Width of pronotum 

 Length of pronotum 

 Length of hind tibia 



o -95-1 -03 

 0-65-0-70 

 0-50-0-53 

 0-20-0-23 

 1-25-1-38 



099 

 o-68 

 051 



0-21 

 I-30 



N. hirticeps is quite unlike any other species in the Ethiopian Region, in being 

 conspicuously hairy on both head and body. Its restricted occurrence on a single 

 island on a chain in which both this and other islands also share the mainland fauna, 

 immediately raises the question of possible introduction from elsewhere. In view 

 of the intense activity of the slave trade in that area in times past, such an intro- 

 duction is not impossible, but a species of Nasutitermes would appear a somewhat 

 unlikely candidate for a journey of this type ; the distributions of Coptotermes 

 formosanus and Reticulitermes flavipes do however show that dispersal by human 

 agencies is not confined to Kalotermitidae. 



