144 W. A. SANDS 



Worker. Head capsule pale yellow, pilosity yellow, fairly numerous setae. Postclypeus 

 moderately inflated, Pcl/W, 0-30. Apical teeth of mandibles long, L A /Li, o-8i, R A /Ri, i-n; 

 subsidiary marginal tooth of left mandible just clear of molar prominence in surface view, 

 L A /Li.L m , 22-30; anterior edge of first marginal tooth of right mandible shorter than that of 

 second, R A /Ri.R m , 26-05. Fore tibia moderately swollen, Ti/T w , 3-91, third apical spur distinct, 

 about one-third length of other two. Mesenteric junction with proctodeum almost transverse, 

 to right of malpighian knot; enteric valve seating dorsolateral in unopened abdomen; internal 

 cushions of enteric valve weakly developed, with scaly surface, posterior margin of each scale 

 fringed with numerous minute spicules. Membranous wall of valve beyond cushions with very 

 numerous rather pronounced spicules arranged in 15-20 rows, broken up into fringed lobes 

 between cushions. Other characters given in generic diagnosis. 



Measurements (one specimen) in millimetres. 



Head width (W) 070 



Fore tibia width (T w ) .... 0-14 



Fore tibia length (Ti) .... 0-54 



Postclypeus length (Pel) . . . 0-21 



Left mandible, apical to first marginal (L A ) 009 



Left mandible, first to third marginal (Lj) . o-io 

 Left mandible, third marginal to molar 



(L m ) 004 



Right mandible, apical to first marginal 



(Ra) 009 



Right mandible, first to second marginal 



(Ri) 008 



Right mandible, second marginal to molar 



(Rm) 004 



A. chirotus is the smallest species in the genus, distinctly smaller than A. tithasus 

 with which it is almost certainly sympatric. It also has, in the imago, proportion- 

 ately larger ocelli closer to the compound eyes, and in both castes, shorter apical 

 mandibular teeth. Both of the savanna species, A. epius and A. imbellis, have 

 much more inflated postclypeus in the imago. In the worker caste, A. epius has 

 a mesenteric overlap with the proctodeum and slender fore tibia; A. imbellis has 

 again an inflated postclypeus and longer apical teeth. The worker abdomen of 

 A. chirotus appears to be weakly dehiscent. 



Holotype $ imago, paratype $ and $ imagos, and workers from type-colony, 

 Democratic Republic of Congo: Epulu River, Camp Putnam, 15.V.1948 

 (A. E. Emerson), in American Museum of Natural History. (Paratypes from type- 

 colony, $ and $ imagos and workers in BMNH.) 



The single known nest-series is recorded as having been found in a mound of 

 Acanthotermes acanthothorax (Sjostedt). 



Acholotermes epius sp. n. 



(Text-figs 342, 343, 350, 351 & 362-367; PI. 3, fig. 3) 



Imago. Head capsule dark sepia-brown, darker above ocelli; fontanelle small, about half 

 size of ocellus, slightly depressed, short-oval, brown, medial spot slightly smaller, flat on slightly 

 raised, short-oval, sepia-brown; postclypeus sepia-brown, labrum yellow-brown; frontal marks 

 sepia-brown, somewhat weakly marked, flat crescents; antennae yellow-brown. Pronotum, 



