NEW TERMITES AND HITHERTO UNKNOWN CASTES 
FROM THE CANAL ZONE, PANAMA 1 
By Thos. E. Snyder 
Entomologist, Forest Insect Investigations , Bureau of Entomology , United States 
Department of Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
The agricultural development of the 
•Canal Zone and the clearing of the 
dense growth of tropical jungle for 
banana, pineapple, avocado, and cacao 
plantations will result in the killing of 
many termite colonies of species that 
require a moist habitat. The intense 
Leat of the tropical sun will render the 
decaying logs, stumps, and branches 
on the ground and even the soil too 
dry and unsuitable for them. Large 
areas of the Zone already have been 
cleared of termites by the formation of 
Gatun Lake, which flooded the land, 
thereby drowning the termite colonies 
in the soil. Nevertheless, termites will 
always constitute a serious problem in 
Panama, and damage to the woodwork 
-and contents of buildings as well as 
to living vegetation must be carefully 
guarded against. 
The writer spent the month of Feb¬ 
ruary, 1924, in the Canal Zone and 
adjacent portions of the Republic of 
Panama, where several new and strik¬ 
ing termites were collected by Messrs. 
J. Zetek, I. Molino, and himself. Dur¬ 
ing his visit a new subgenus, Uniformi- 
termes, of the genus Nasutitermes 
Banks was found, which contains two 
types of soldiers of similar form or 
shape. Species were found in two rare 
American genera, namely, Cylindro- 
termes Holmgren from Bolivia (species, 
nordenskioldi Holmgren) and Rhyncho- 
termes Holmgren (a subgenus of Armi- 
termes Wasmann, from South America), 
hitherto monotypic (species, perarmatus 
Snyder); neither genus had been found 
previously in Panama. 
The three species in the genus Cryp- 
totermes Banks found in Panama in 
the latter part of the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury by Dudley and Beaumont, who 
gave no definite locality records, were 
rediscovered, and the hitherto unknown 
dealated adult of Cryptotermes longicol- 
lis Banks was found (fig. 2), which will 
be described after more material has 
been obtained. A study of C. brevicol - 
lis Banks (fig. 1) and C. longicollis 
Banks convinced the writer that they 
should be included in Holmgren’s sub¬ 
genus Lobitermes. C. dudleyi, on the 
other hand, is a Cryptotermes and sup¬ 
presses thompsonae Snyder. Neither 
Banks’s figures nor his description of 
C. dudleyi indicates 
that the soldier has 
the anterior margin 
of the pronotum ser¬ 
rate, the distinctive 
character of C.thomp¬ 
sonae, but the writer 
has since examined 
Banks’s type. 
Interesting bio¬ 
logical notes were ob¬ 
tained on the habits 
of Cylindrotermes 
andRhynchotermes; 
Cylindrotermes (PI. 
1, B) lives under very similar condi¬ 
tions to snecies of Amitermes ( beau - 
Fig. 1 .—Kalotermes 
( Lobiiermes)brevicolli8: 
Mandibles of soldier, 
showing marginal 
teeth. (From draw- 
ing made by camera 
lucida) 
monti) and Leucotermes. 
The termite fauna of Barro Colorado 
Island in Gatun Lake, Canal Zone, the 
Fig. 2 —Kalotermes ( Lobitermes) longicollis: Man' 
dxbles of soldier, showing marginal teeth. (From 
drawing made by camera lucida) 
site of the new tropical research sta¬ 
tion, was especially rich and interest¬ 
ing; 20 species, representing 15 genera 
or subgenera, occurring. At present 
only 36 species of termites, represent¬ 
ing" 22 genera or subgenera, have been 
found in Panama but it is believed that 
many more species occur. The out¬ 
lying regions of the Republic of Panama 
have not been explored for termites 
and doubtless South American species 
will be found there. To the writer, 
i Received for publication June 25,1924—issued January, 1925. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
(179) 
Vol. XXIX, No. 4 
Aug. 15, 1924 
Key No. K-139 
