Rustitermes boteroi, a new genus and species of soldierless termites (Blattodea, Isoptera, Apicotermitinae) from South America

By

Castro Torres, Daniel
Constantini, Joice
Scheffrahn, Rudolf
Carrijo, Tiago Fernandes
Cancello, Eliana Marques

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2020

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

922

Pages

35--49

Subjects

barcode sequence , enteric valve , Neotropics , Soil-feeder

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.922.47347

 

Abstract

We present the description of a new genus and species of soldierless termites from South America. Rustitermes boteroi Constantini, Castro & Scheffrahn, gen. et sp. nov. can be identified by the morphology of the enteric valve, with six slightly asymmetric cushions, each one forming a central pouch made of scales smaller than those between the cushions. The new genus features two characteristic rows of thick bristles on the interior margin of the fore tibia, and is supported by COI molecular sequence data. This species is distributed from Tobago to northern Argentina.