Disjunctitermes Scheffrahn

Scheffrahn, Rudolf H., Carrijo, Tiago F., Postle, Anthony C. & Tonini, Francesco, 2017, Disjunctitermesinsularis, a new soldierless termite genus and species (Isoptera, Termitidae, Apicotermitinae) from Guadeloupe and Peru, ZooKeys 665, pp. 71-84 : 71

Disjunctitermes Scheffrahn gen. n. Figs 1, 2, 3, Table 2

Type species.

Disjunctitermes insularis sp. n.

Diagnosis.

Disjunctitermes is one of the described Neotropical apicotermitines that, along with Anoplotermes banksi , A. pacificus , and Hydrecotermes spp., possess strongly inflated fore tibia and lack spiny sclerotized enteric valves. Disjunctitermes is closest to A. banksi , but can be distinguished from the latter by the subsidiary tooth on the left mandible, the larger EV seating and the more truncate terminus of P2 (Fig. 3C, D). Hydrecotermes lacks a spheroidal mesenteric tongue.

Imago.

Unknown.

Worker

(Figs 1-3, Table 2). Monomorphic, small. Head capsule yellowish, covered with about 100 setae of varying length. Postclypeus moderately inflated, fontanelle barely discernable. Antennae with 14 articles. Left mandible with apical and first marginal teeth well separated, long, and projecting well beyond line formed by third marginal tooth and molar prominence. A subsidiary (fourth) marginal tooth visible above molar prominence in both dorsal (Fig. 1C, bottom) and ventral (Fig. 1D, bottom) views. Right mandible with apical tooth much longer than first marginal; third marginal nearly symmetrical. Fore-tibia strongly inflated; about three times longer than at its widest (median) point. Mesenteric tongue spheroidal (Fig. 2C). P2 entering through large, robustly trilobed EV seating (two lobes prominently visible through integument, Figs 1F, 2C). Enteric valve morphology consists of six elongate, inflated pads (Fig. 3A, B) that face the valve lumen (Fig. 3D). The posterior end of the P2, containing the EV, with truncate terminus projecting about half way into EV seating.

Etymology.

The genus name is derived from its current, widely disjunct distribution on Guadeloupe and Peru (Fig. 4, inset)