Isognathotermes subarquatus ( Sjöstedt, 1926 )

Josens, Guy, Deligne, Jean, Harry, Myriam, Roy, Virginie, Akama, Pierre D., Coulibaly, Tenon, Dosso, Kanvaly, Goergen, Georg, Hasson, Michel, Kasangij, Patrick Kasangij A, Kifukieto, Carmel, Ru, Bruno Le, Loko, Laura Estelle Yêyinou, Ndiaye, Abdoulaye Baila, Roisin, Yves, Sion, Noémie, Šobotnik, Jan, Stiblik, Petr, Kuenda, Soki Kue Di, Traoré, Saran, Viage, Manuela, Wango, Solange Patricia, Kaymak, Esra, Bourguignon, Thomas & Hellemans, Simon, 2025, An integrative revision of the genus Isognathotermes (Termitidae: Cubitermitinae) with description of seven new species and four new subspecies, European Journal of Taxonomy 1024, pp. 1-197 : 184-185

Isognathotermes subarquatus ( Sjöstedt, 1926)

Figs 39–41

Revised herein as junior synonym of I. finitimus .

Cubitermes subarquatus Sjöstedt, 1926: 244–245 , table 9 g 1–g2.

Mirotermes ( Cubitermes) subarquatus – Emerson 1928: 510–511, text-fig. 55, pl. XXIX. — Snyder 1949: 164. — Krishna et al. 2013: 1938.

Cubitermes finitimus – Josens & Deligne 2019: 61 .

Isognathotermes finitimus – Hellemans et al. 2021: 233.

Junior synonym of Isognathotermes finitimus ( Schmitz, 1916) .

Isognathotermes aff. subarquatus “spA” junior synonym of Isognathotermes fungifaber . Isognathotermes aff. subarquatus “spB” junior synonym of Isognathotermes planifrons . Isognathotermes aff. subarquatus “spC” junior synonym of Isognathotermes bulbifrons . Syn. nov. Isognathotermes aff. subarquatus “spD” junior synonym of Isognathotermes fungifaber .

Etymology

The epithet subarquatus from the Latin sub- (to a lesser degree) and arquatus (yellowish) can refer to the red-yellowish colour of the soldier’s head mentioned in the original description, but arcuatus (or arquatus) also means ‘curved, in the shape of a bow’.

Historical review

Sjöstedt (1926: 244–245) described alate imago, soldier, and worker, along with a few measurements and provided figures of the soldier’s head. He included (1926: 218–226) Cubitermes subarquatus in imagines’ and soldiers’ keys of Cubitermes species and inserted it in a “ fungifaber -Gruppe” of species with a not protruding soldier’s frons.

Emerson (1928: 510–511) referred to this species under the name Mirotermes ( Cubitermes) subarquatus . He provided further descriptions (with measurements and figures) of imago and soldier together with photographs of the nest.

Snyder (1949: 164) catalogued C. subarquatus in the sub-family Termitinae .

Krishna et al. (2013: 1938) housed C. subarquatus in the sub-family Cubitermitinae . They reported that Emerson (in his unpublished “card catalog”) considered C. subarquatus a junior synonym of C. finitimus . Synonymy of the two species is compatible with their EVAs, as Josens & Deligne (2019: 42–44) placed this species within the finitimus valve pattern group.

Hellemans et al. (2021: 233) placed this species in the restored genus Isognathotermes ; and COII and 28S sequences placed it in the “ I. finitimus clade”. Our morphology study (this article) also shows that the type matches well I. finitimus .

Roy et al. (2006) pointed to the possible existence of cryptic species on base of nuclear and mitochondrial markers. Among the four cryptic species, two of them (“spA” and “spD”) had fungifaber -EVAs and their DNA sequences also classified them in I. fungifaber ( Hellemans et al. 2021) . The two other cryptic species (“spB” and “spC”) had finitimus -EVAs: “spB” was recognized as I. planifrons and “spC” as I. bulbifrons .