Termitodius, Wasmann, 1894

Skelley, Paul E., Clavijo-Bustos, Julian & Keller, Oliver, 2022, Extinct or extant? A new species of Termitodius Wasmann, 1894, (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae: Rhyparini) with a short review of the genus, Insecta Mundi 2022 (915), pp. 1-14 : 3

TERMITODIUS Wasmann, 1894

Termitodius Wasmann 1894: 220 . Type species. Termitodius coronatus Wasmann 1894: 220 , by monotypy. Schmidt 1922: 534 (descr).

Diagnosis. Termitodius is readily distinguished from all rhyparine genera by having the pronotal ridges swollen and bulbous at the anterior margin, long cylindrical metatibia, and mesotibia with inner subapical notch and tooth.

Description. [From Skelley 2007] Length approximately 3.4–4.0 mm. Body of typical rhyparine appearance with strong dorsal carinae and elytron with an apical bulb and trichomes. Head with clypeus abruptly inflexed medially, submarginal lines and bead present, angulate medial tooth evident in ventral view only when head extended. Pronotum dorsally robust, usually distinctly lobed, lateral margin flared anteriorly; dorsal carinae of variable development, each carina broadened with bulbous at anterior margin, carina simply broadened posteriorly, discolateral carina reduced on posterior 2/3. Metafemur long, slender, cylindrical, not notably widened apically. Meso- and metatibia elongate, circular in cross section, not flattened nor dilated toward apex. Mesotibia ( Termitodius - type) apically truncate, complete terminal fringe of setae, apical spine small and perpendicular to tibial axis, second subapical spine on inner margin separated from apex by shallow notch, prominent in male, weakly developed in female. Elytron elongate, approximately 3 times longer than wide; not distinctly parallelsided, evenly rounded to terminal bulb.

Comments. Various authors briefly comment on Termitodius . A discussion on how to distinguish Termitodius from Rhyparus is given in Cartwright and Woodruff (1969). However, the specimen illustrated as “ Termitodius species (undescribed)” in Cartwright and Woodruff (1969, f. 3–4) is Aschnarhyparus peregrinus ( Hinton 1934) . A key to species is provided by Reyes-Castillo and Martínez (1979), who illustrate and describe adults of T. araujoi Reyes-Castillo and Martínez, 1979 and T. chaki Reyes-Castillo and Martínez, 1979 , and also describe larva and pupa for the former species. Chalumeau (1981) discusses and illustrates the holotype of T. coronatus .

All known specimens of Termitodius were collected in association with termite nests. Termitodius coronatus was collected with Eutermes meinerti Wasmann ( Isoptera , Termitidae ) ( Wasmann 1894; Krikken 1970). Immature stages of Termitodius araujoi were collected from the nest of “ Coptotermes crassus Snyder ” ( Isoptera : Rhinotermitidae ) ( Reyes-Castillo and Martínez 1979). Termitodius chaki Reyes-Castillo and Martínez, 1979 , was collected from the nest of “ Coptotermes aff. testaceus (Linnaeus) ”, also one third instar larva was found, and two couples of specimens were observed during the copulation ( Reyes-Castillo and Martínez 1979). Recent work on native New World Coptotermes shows them to be a single species, C. testaceus ( Scheffrahn et al. 2015) .

It is interesting that none of the known specimens were collected at light or in flight intercept traps. This could be a result of their true rarity, or likely that they do not fly often and possibly only during the day. Researchers need to focus efforts on host termite nests to study this genus.