THE SOLDIERLESS TERMITES OF AFRICA 193 



between these two genera, Aderitotermes possibly being a specialized derivative 

 from the same stem as Anenteotermes. 



Anenteotermes itself contains a wide range of forms, some of them highly special- 

 ized in other ways. The armature of the enteric valve again shows a series of 

 developing complexity, not so complete as that seen in Ateuchotermes but with 

 enough stages to clearly show the relationship of the simpler to the more advanced 

 forms, which were at first placed in a separate genus. 



Although Anenteotermes forms an acceptable genus by conventional taxonomic 

 standards, its position in the analysis of the similarity matrix is not so clear. This 

 results very largely from the coding adopted, which treats the length of the mesenteric 

 overlap with the proctodeum as a single multistate quantitative character. This 

 feature is thereby weighted far below what I now consider to be its true significance. 

 This problem is discussed in the sections on numerical taxonomy and phylogeny, 

 but its result is to place Anenteotermes very close to Astalotermes and Acholotermes 

 in the vector diagrams (Text-figs 504-505). It forms a cluster of points which 

 scarcely overlaps with these genera but several points have their nearest neighbour 

 outside this group. Consequently when the clustering is analysed either by single 

 linkage or median sorting, some of the species of Anenteotermes are scattered among 

 those of the other genera. This reflects a genuine, very great general similarity in 

 characters other than the mixed segment and enteric valve armature. It is not 

 possible to key out the imago castes of Anenteotermes separately from those of 

 Astalotermes Group I. It seems likely that Anenteotermes was derived from forms 

 resembling Astalotermes. 



Within the genus Anenteotermes, as in Astalotermes, the species fall into natural 

 groupings which are also indicated in the cluster analyses. However, in Anenteo- 

 termes they include fewer species and depend very largely on the degree of develop- 

 ment of the enteric valve. There is little to be gained in describing the genus by 

 sorting the species under group headings. It is sufficient to note that the main 

 grouping consists of five species, A. ateuchestes, A. cicur, A. disluctans, A. hemerus 

 and A. improcinctus in which the mixed segment is fully developed and the enteric 

 valve is without armature other than scales. A second group is formed by 

 A. amachetits and A. nanus in which the enteric valve has spines on the edges of the 

 scales, more developed in the latter species. The third group consists of A . cnaphorus 

 and A. polyscolus in which the enteric valve armature is most highly developed. 

 There remains A. improelatans which should perhaps have come first since it has a 

 shorter mixed segment and the first marginal teeth of imago and worker right 

 mandibles are not appreciably reduced; it also has wider meso- and metanota. 

 These characters would appear to be primitive and to link it with other genera. 



Keys to Species 

 Imagos 



1 Right mandible with anterior edge of first marginal tooth distinctly shorter than 



that of second marginal .......... 2 



- Right mandible with anterior edge of first marginal at least as long as that of 



second ............. a 



