Isognathotermes comstocki ( Emerson, 1928 )

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 : 174-175

Isognathotermes comstocki ( Emerson, 1928)

Figs 43–44; Table 6

Revised herein as junior synonym of I. fungifaber .

Mirotermes ( Cubitermes) comstocki Emerson, 1928: 525 , fig. 64.

Cubitermes comstocki – Snyder 1949: 158. — Krishna et al. 2013: 1918.

Cubitermes fungifaber – Ruelle 1992: 501.— Josens & Deligne 2019: 60 .

Isognathotermes fungifaber – Hellemans et al. 2021: 233.

Etymology

In the original description, Emerson (1928: 525) stated: “I have named the species in honor of Prof. J.H. Comstock, to whom I owe a great deal of my enthusiasm for the study of insects.”

Historical review

Emerson (1928: 523–525) described this species under the name Mirotermes ( Cubitermes) comstocki . He provided a description (with measurements and figures) of queen and soldier, mentioning differences with other species, among which M. ( C.) fungifaber .

Snyder (1949: 158) catalogued C. comstocki in the sub-family Termitinae and reported its known geographical distribution.

This is one of the species that Ruelle (1992: 501) called “forgotten species”.

Krishna et al. (2013: 1918) housed C. comstocki in the subfamily Cubitermitinae . They reported that Emerson (in his unpublished “card catalog”) considered C. comstocki as a junior synonym of C. fungifaber . This latter opinion of Emerson was also reported by Ruelle (1992: 501).

Synonymy of the two species is compatible with their enteric valve morphology, as both species belong to the same fungifaber valve pattern group ( Josens & Deligne 2019: 39–42).

Hellemans et al. (2021: 233) placed this species in the restored genus Isognathotermes .

Three subsamples have been examined (see Isognathotermes fungifaber, DJ 0121, DJ 0273, and DJ 0278). Krishna et al. (2013: 1943) mention that other subsamples are deposited in UMMZ: holotype (soldier) and morphotype (queen), not examined.

Isognathotermes comstocki , along with I. banksi and I. schmidti are rather small in comparison with I. fungifaber (see Table 6). As already explained for I. banksi , new material was collected by one of us (PA) and sequenced ( Hellemans et al. 2021: 233) with the conclusion that the four above species belong to the same clade. Therefore, I. comstocki ( Emerson, 1928) is confirmed as a junior synonym of I. fungifaber ( Sjöstedt, 1896) .