Primitive new termites (Blattodea, Termitoidae) in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar

By

Jiang, Yurong
Deng, Xinru
Shih, ChungKun
Zhao, Yunyun
Ren, Dong, 1963-
Zhao, Zhipeng

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2024

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1197

Pages

115--126

Subjects

Fossil termites , Isoptera , Mastotermitidae , social insects , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1197.114452

 

Abstract

Mastotermitidae, the first-diverging extant family of termites, has only one relic extant species; however, this family had greater richness during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. Fossil termites from the Cretaceous provide information on the early evolution of termites and the transition between extinct families. Herein, two new Mastotermitidae species found in upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Kachin amber are reported. One is a female imago described as Angustitermes reflexusgen. et sp. nov. and assigned to the subfamily Mastotermitinae. The other is Mastotermes reticulatussp. nov., which is described from an isolated forewing. With the comparison especially of the antenna and venation, these new mastotermitids further increase our knowledge of the diversity and morphology of Mastotermitidae during the Mesozoic.