ETHIOPIAN NASUTITERMITINAE 157 



strongly inflated at base of nose and sharply constricted in middle, with numerous irregular 

 small tubercle-like outgrowths of cuticle, denser on base of nose and anterior lobe of head. 

 Antennae 12-13 segmented, III to IX or X with 3 tubercles each on inner side. Head and nose 

 with numerous scattered small setae. Abdominal tergites with scattered short setae, longer on 

 posterior margins, sternites with short setae more dense and longer than tergites, and longer 

 on posterior margins. 



Worker. Left mandible with apical tooth longer than first marginal, distance between them 

 longer than that from first to third marginals (left mandible index 1 -36), notch present in cutting 

 edge in front of third marginal, gap between third marginal and molar prominence little wider 

 than this notch, subsidiary tooth between them just visible ; right mandible, apical and first 

 marginal as left, second marginal almost absorbed in posterior edge of first, molar plate with weak 

 basal indentation of outline, strong rounded posterior flange, " ridges " vestigial and embedded 

 in smooth shining surface. 



The curious eyes of the imago of Vernicositermes are a feature occurring to a less 

 marked degree in some Eutermellus species and in Mimeutermes. The worker 

 mandible illustrated by Emerson (i960) appears to be that of Orthotermes depressi- 

 frons (Termitinae), a common forest species frequently occurring in the nests of 

 other genera. The paratype material deposited at the British Museum (Natural 

 History) includes a worker of this species, and there is a notable resemblance in 

 general appearance between this and the true paratype Vernicositermes worker in 

 the same vial. The Orthotermes worker has a prominent comb of diverging bristle- 

 like setae on the anterior coxae, and slight differences in the mandibles. Emerson 

 notes in parenthesis that some workers of the type colony have the right second 

 marginal tooth less conspicuous than that figured. This is characteristic of the true 

 V errucositermes worker, which also has a much narrower gap between left third 

 marginal and molar prominence, and a more elongate right molar plate. 



The very characteristic soldier caste is the chief distinctive feature of the genus, 

 though the rugosity of the nose and its base in some Eutermellus and Mimeutermes 

 indicates a similar tendency in these genera ; indeed, the vertex and nose-base 

 cuticle of Mimeutermes giffardii magnified X 500 shows very numerous outgrowths 

 which are closely similar in appearance and may be homologous in spite of their 

 much smaller size. 



The phylogenetic position of V errucositermes must remain in some doubt, but the 

 most likely would appear to be derived from an ancestor of less specialized soldier 

 caste, but otherwise similar, intermediate between the genera Eutermellus and 

 Mimeutermes. 



V errucositermes tuberosus Emerson 



(Text-figs. 440-444, 451. 452, 467-469. 49° I Ma P 3i) 



V errucositermes tuberosus Emerson, i960 : 6. Type locality : Congo, Leopoldville. 



Material. Congo : Leopoldville, Kalina Point, 4 18' S., 15 ° 18' E., 5.V1.1948 

 {A. E. Emerson), holotype soldier, paratypes, and morphotype king, A.M.N.H. ; 

 Camp Putnam (i° 24' N., 28 ° 36' E.), 22. v. 1948 (A. E. Emerson), paratype soldiers, 

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



