W. A. SANDS 



INTRODUCTION 



This paper provides a revision of the termite subfamily Nasutitermitinae Hare 

 (1937) (Isoptera, Termitidae) as it occurs in the Ethiopian Zoogeographical Region. 

 The subfamily is characterized by the adaptation of the head capsule of the soldier 

 caste to a chemical defence mechanism: the frons and vertex are produced into a 

 tubular or conical nose terminating in the opening of the frontal gland, which 

 secretes a sticky fluid. In all of the genera included in this paper the soldier man- 

 dibles are reduced to vestiges. The more primitive genera with mandibulate 

 soldiers do not occur in Africa, being confined to the Neotropical Region. 



The Ethiopian Zoogeographical Region is taken to consist of the continent of 

 Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, and those adjacent parts of the Arabian penin- 

 sula in which the climate permits the survival of African species. There are no 

 unquestionable records of the subfamily from Palaearctic Africa ; the Malagasy fauna 

 is separate and distinct and is therefore excluded from this revision. 



More material is available for study from the African continent than from any 

 other, enabling a more detailed assessment of variation to be made than is possible 

 for any other part of the world. All the species included are endemic to the Ethio- 

 pian Region, as are all but 3 of the genera. Of the latter, Grallatotermes has only 

 one African species; Trinervitermes is primarily African with only 6 little-known 

 species in the Indo-malayan Region; Nasutiterm.es is the only tropicopolitan genus. 

 Monographic treatment of Nasutitermes must needs be unbalanced owing to dis- 

 parities between collections from different regions: for example, a recent revision by 

 Prashad and Sen-Sarma (1959) of 18 species of Nasutitermes in the Indian Region 

 refers to only 39 nest series. For these reasons, this revision of a faunal section of 

 the subfamily has been undertaken rather than separate monographs of component 

 genera. 



The first African nasute species to be described was Termes arborum Smeathman 

 (1781), followed by T. trinervius Rambur (1842). Sjostedt (1900-1904) provided 

 the first revisions and keys and recognized 18 species of African nasutes, all placed 

 in the genus Eutermes. By the time Sjostedt (1926) produced his second revision of 

 the African termites, the numbers had increased to 88 species and 2 subspecies in 5 

 genera. Emerson (1928) listed 90 species in 7 genera, and Snyder (1949) catalogued 

 92 species and 4 subspecies in 6 genera. Subsequent modifications and additions 

 have brought this up to 102 species in n genera. 



In addition to these, species previously synonymized by other authors have been 

 re-determined, with the result that a total of 120 previously described species and 

 subspecies are involved in this revision. In all but 5 of these, the holotype, lecto- 

 type, syntypes, paratypes or paralectotypes from the type colony have been 

 examined. Where the type series consists of alate imagos collected at light, as much 

 as possible of the original material has been studied to eliminate the risk of confusion 

 resulting from a mixture of species. Of the 5 species in which types have not been 

 seen, one, Nasutitermes arborum (Smeathman) lacks a type specimen and a neotype 

 has been selected. The remaining 4 belong to other subfamilies. These are as 



