THE SOLDIERLESS TERMITES OF AFRICA 5 



as an intractable taxonomic problem, avoided by most systematists. This accounts 

 for the small number of species described and the paucity of material in collections. 

 Eleven species were previously included in the genus from Africa. The holotype, 

 syntypes and paratypes of all these have been examined and lectotypes selected 

 and designated where necessary. Of the named species of Anoplotermes, A. lateralis 

 (Walker) is in fact a Microcerotermes, and A. pallidipes (Sjostedt) is a.Pericapritermes. 

 A. placidus Silvestri, A. sanctus Silvestri and A. sedatus Silvestri all become junior 

 synonyms. 



The nomenclatural adjustments resulting from the removal of two species to other 

 genera are set out formally below. 



Microcerotermes lateralis (Walker) comb. n. 



Termes lateralis Walker, 1853 : 523. Holotype imago, sex indeterminable, Sierra Leone, 



in BMNH. 

 Anoplotermes lateralis (Walker); Silvestri, 1914 : 65. 



Pericapritermes pallidipes (Sjostedt) comb. n. 



Eutermes pallidipes Sjostedt, 1900 : 172. Syntype imagos, Cameroon: Kribi, in Zoologisches 



Museum, Berlin. 

 Anoplotermes pallidipes (Sjostedt); Sjostedt, 1926 : 289. 



To the remaining six of the original species have been added three species-names 

 initially placed in genera of Termitinae, and now found to belong to this group. 

 The type-species of these too have been examined and lectotypes designated. 

 These changes are not unusual and no more than were anticipated. The un- 

 expected feature of this work has been the discovery of a complex of 60 species 

 for which both imago and worker castes are available. None of these or the earlier 

 species can be attributed to Anoplotermes, which is a genus confined to the Neo- 

 tropical region (an Indian species described by Roonwal and Chhotani (i960) is 

 unlikely to be congeneric with the type-species, A. pacificus Muller). 



The African species are now divided into 16 genera of which eight are monotypic, 

 two have two species, and the remainder have three, four, six, eight, 10 and 17 

 species respectively. This pattern of subdivision is similar to that found in the 

 subfamily Nasutitermitinae for the same region by Sands (1965). Many of the 

 species described here have to be based on single nest-series owing to shortage of 

 specimens. Only in the commonest species is there abundant material to establish 

 the range of variation. Where closely related forms collected from widely separated 

 localities differ in some characters, they are treated as distinct species until inter- 

 mediates are found. Some species now recognized may consequently be future 

 synonyms. On the other hand the alates are feeble fliers with poor dispersive 

 powers and local speciation seems to have been frequent. A number of distinct 

 species are known from the worker caste alone. These are not named because in 

 a group as difficult as this it is advisable to have all castes before descriptions are 

 formally made. The existence of more species shows that the work is not complete 

 for Africa, whilst for other zoogeographical regions the group has scarcely been 

 touched. 



