Labiotermes guasu Constantino & Acioli

Constantino, Reginaldo, Acioli, Agno N. S., Schmidt, Karen, Cuezzo, Carolina, Carvalho, Sérgio H. C. & Vasconcellos, Alexandre, 2006, A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical termite genera Labiotermes Holmgren and Paracornitermes Emerson (Isoptera: Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae), Zootaxa 1340, pp. 1-44 : 14-16

Labiotermes guasu Constantino & Acioli , new species

Holotype: soldier, part of lot UnB­5829, 22.iii.2004, A.N.S. Acioli

Type­locality: BRAZIL. Amazonas State. Benjamin Constant, Nova Aliança.

Paratypes: BRAZIL. Amazonas. Benjamin Constant, Nova Aliança: s., w., 22.iii.2004, A.N.S. Acioli (UnB­5829); s., w., 26.iii.2004, A.N.S. Acioli (UnB­5950). Mato Grosso. Iquê­Juruena: s., w., 22.ix.1980, A.E. Mill (MPEG­1331). PERU. Ucayali. Pucalpa: s., w., no date, G. Lamas (MZSP­11157). Río Aguaytía: s., w., 31.vii.1955, W.

Weyrauch (MZSP­1148).

Etymology: The word guaçu means large in the Tupi language. In the latinized form, the “ç” was converted to “s”.

Imago. Unknown.

Soldier ( Figs. 3 A–F, 11C). Head capsule subrectangular in dorsal view; sides converging slightly towards front. Frontal tube small, oriented anteriorly. Top of head in profile slightly convex. Antenna with 16 articles. Labrum longer than broad; sides convex. Mandibles long and strongly curved. Left mandible: cutting edge between apical and 1st marginal slightly S­shaped; cutting edge between marginal teeth slightly concave. Right mandible with two marginal teeth; 1st marginal larger than 2nd. Front coxa without a lateral projection near base. Latero­posterior margins of pronotum with small protuberances. Head capsule and labrum brownish yellow; thorax and legs lighter than head capsule; tergites and sternites yellowish. Head capsule with a few short and straight bristles of relatively uniform size; postmentum with numerous bristles on anterior third; anterior margin of pronotum with a row of bristles; posterior margin with a few bristles; tergites and sternites densely covered with bristles and fine hairs. Measurements in Table 2 .

Comparisons. The soldier of L. guasu is easily recognizable by its large size, with proportionally long mandibles and legs and the head with very few hairs.

Worker ( Figs. 3 G–J, 13C, 14A, 15E–F, 16C). Head capsule and postclypeus with very few, sparse bristles. Pronotum with numerous bristles on anterior lobe and a few bristles on posterior margin. Latero­posterior margins of pronotum with small protuberancesand a few minute spines like those present on the meso­ and metanotum. Mesonotum with a line of bristles on posterior margin. Front coxa without any projection near base. Front and middle femur and with numerous thick and short bristles on dorsal side. Antenna with 16 articles. Fontanelle very large and rounded. P1 conspicuously smaller than P3. Enteric valve with 6 elongate ridges of different sizes, covered with numerous long, fine, hair­like spines. Mixed segment with two elongate mesenteric lobes; small lobe about half the length of the large one. Measurements in Table 3 .

Comparisons. The worker of Labiotermes guasu can be recognized by its large size, the small number of hairs on the head and the absence of a projection on anterior coxa. The most similar species in external morphology is L. labralis , which is conspicuously smaller. The enteric valve is also distinct from all other species.

Geographical distribution. Labiotermes guasu is recorded from only 4 localities ( Fig. 20 ), all of them in the Amazon region of Brazil and Peru.

Figures

FIGURES 3. Labiotermes guasu, new species. Soldier: A, head in dorsal view; B, pronotum in dorsal view; C, pronotum in posterior view; D, head in profile; E, postmentum; F, right front leg. Worker: G, head in dorsal view; H, thorax; I, head in profile; J, right front leg. Scale bars = 1.0 mm.

FIGURES 20. Geographic distribution of Labiotermes laticephalus, L. guasu, new species, and L. oreadicus, new species. The double symbol indicates the respective type­locality.