6 W. A. SANDS 



The importance of the soldierless termites as soil-working organisms in the 

 Tropics is evident. The new information on their morphology raises the question 

 of the adequacy of the existing subfamilial classification. The confusion this 

 arouses is illustrated by the discussion of their relationships by Roonwal and 

 Chhotani (1966). This confusion can be resolved by certain alterations which are 

 discussed in detail in the section on phylogeny. The soldierless forms and their 

 relations are removed from the Amitermitinae and placed in the Apicotermitinae. 

 The subfamily allocation is therefore omitted from the title to this paper. 



In order to emphasize the uniformity of the soldierless termites, and their relation- 

 ship to Anoplotermes, the first-named member of the group, all the generic names 

 used here begin with the same letter. This was achieved by the choice of names 

 expressing their unarmed, passive condition. 



MATERIAL 



A total of 598 nest-series are listed in this revision. These represent about 95 % of 

 the material examined, the remainder being of single castes that do not match 

 any of the recognized species. 



Much of the material has been collected by members of the Termite Research 

 Unit (Ministry of Overseas Development) and is deposited at the British Museum 

 (Natural History). Types and other specimens have been obtained on loan, 

 through the courtesy of specialists and others mentioned in the acknowledgements 

 from the following museum collections: 



Naturhistoriska Riksmuseum, Stockholm; Silvestri collection, Instituto di 

 Entomologia Agraria 'Filippo Silvestri', Portici, Naples (Silvestri Coll., 1st. Ent. 

 Agr.) ; American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH) ; National Col- 

 lection of Isoptera, Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria (N.C.I., Pretoria); 

 Musee Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren; Swiss Tropical Institute, Basle; 

 University of Lovanium, Kinshasa. 



The abbreviations given in parentheses are those used in the text. The British 

 Museum (Natural History), where abbreviated, is given as BMNH. In listing 

 localities, co-ordinates are given for those not included in the gazetteer of the 

 Times Atlas, vol. IV, 1958 edition. 



METHODS 



Characters used 



In attempting a comprehensive study of a group previously almost unknown, a 

 careful search for suitable characters has had to be made. In the imago caste 

 most of the more prominent external features have been used or illustrated before. 

 However, some features have been found more important than previously recognized, 

 and the value of some small details of structure more fully realized. The mandibles 

 of both imago and worker castes have been subjected to detailed measurements. 

 A small subsidiary marginal tooth on the left mandible, between and behind the 

 third marginal and the molar prominence has been found to provide an important 

 generic character. Silvestri (1913-14) illustrated the imaginal meso- and metanota 

 but was only interested in the shape of their hind margins. These are of little taxo- 



