ETHIOPIAN XASUTITERMITINAE 53 



Range Mean 



Width of pronotum . . 0-43-0-50 .... 047 



Length of pronotum . . 0-18-0-25 .... 0-21 



Length of hind tibia . . 1-23-1-73 . . . . 143 



Variation. The profile view of the soldier is the main feature of variation in this species. 



L. doriae is unlikely to be confused with any other African species, and its dis- 

 tinguishing features are discussed under the generic heading. It appears to be 

 related far more closely to the Hospitalitermes - Lacessititermes group of constricted- 

 headed genera than to the Coarctotermes - Fulleritcrmes - Rhadinotermes group, and 

 in assigning the species to Hospitalitermes, Holmgren (1912) was nearer to the truth 

 than subsequent authors. Common features in the soldier are the distribution of 

 setae and the long appendages, and in the imago, the large eyes, pale colour, and 

 not distinctly bifurcate fontanelle, the retracted tooth between left third marginal 

 and molar prominence, and the reduced overlap of right first and second marginals. 

 The right molar plate is however distinctly different ; and this, together with the 

 stronger notch in the left mandible, the more concave right second marginal, and 

 the better developed apical teeth, may be an indication of a more primitive position 

 for L. doriae in this group. 



Material. Island of Fernando Poo : Basile, viii.-ix.1901 (L. Fea), syntype 

 soldiers, type colony, L. doriae (Silvestri), Silvestri coll., Lab. Zool. Sc. Agr., Portici, 

 A.M.N.H., and B.M.(N.H.). 



Guinea : Nimba Mountains, 1957, 4 vials (M. Lamotte), Inst. Franc,. d'Afr. 

 Noire, Dakar. 



Sierra Leone : Freetown, 7. i. 1958 (W. Wilkinson). 



Ivory Coast : Banco Forest, 4.11.1962 (C. Noirot). 



Ghana : Aburi 1912-13 (F. Silvestri), morphotype king, Silvestri coll., Lab. 

 Zool. Sc. Agr., Portici ; 20m. S. of Techiman on Kumasi Road, i.iv.1959 (W. A. 

 Sands). 



Nigeria : Western Region ; Benin Province, Obanokoro, Sobo Plain, 4. hi. 

 1957 ; Eastern Region ; 53m. from Port Harcourt on Owerri Road, 6.xii.i957, 

 Port Harcourt, 18.xii.1959 (W. Wilkinson). 



Cameroun : Victoria, i.1913 (F. Silvestri), A.M.N. H. 



Congo : Ituri, Beni, Irumu, 24.il. 1948 {N. A. Weber), A.M.N.H. 



A total of 14 nest series, in the British Museum (Natural History) except where 

 otherwise stated. 



L. doriae is confined to the rain forests of West Africa and the Congo. It appears 

 to feed almost exclusively on damp, well rotted wood, and to nest in chambers in or 

 under dead logs, or parts of the mounds of other species. It is never common, and 

 the patchy distribution of records reflects the difficulty experienced by collectors 

 rather than the occurrence of the species, which may extend to all parts of the 

 Congo forest. 



