Rustitermes boteroi, a new genus and species of soldierless termites (Blattodea, Isoptera, Apicotermitinae) from South America

Daniel Castro; Joice P Constantini; Rudolf H Scheffrahn; Tiago F Carrijo; Eliana M Cancello

doi:10.3897/zookeys.922.47347

Rustitermes boteroi, a new genus and species of soldierless termites (Blattodea, Isoptera, Apicotermitinae) from South America

Zookeys. 2020 Mar 25:922:35-49. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.922.47347. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Daniel Castro^{1

2}, Joice P Constantini³, Rudolf H Scheffrahn⁴, Tiago F Carrijo⁵, Eliana M Cancello³

Affiliations

¹ Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas SINCHI, Avenida Vásquez Cobo Calles 15 y 16, Leticia, Amazonas, Colombia Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas SINCHI Leticia Colombia.
² Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Carrera 30 # 45-03, Bogotá D.C., Colombia Universidad Nacional de Colombia Bogotá Colombia.
³ Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Cx. Postal 42.391, 04218-970, São Paulo, SP, Brazil Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil.
⁴ Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, 3205 College Avenue, Davie, Florida 33314, USA University of Florida Davie United States of America.
⁵ Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC, Rua Arcturus 03, Jardim Antares, 09606-070, São Bernardo do Campo, SP, Brazil Universidade Federal do ABC São Bernardo do Campo Brazil.

Abstract

We present the description of a new genus and species of soldierless termites from South America. Rustitermes boteroi Constantini, Castro & Scheffrahn, gen. et sp. nov. can be identified by the morphology of the enteric valve, with six slightly asymmetric cushions, each one forming a central pouch made of scales smaller than those between the cushions. The new genus features two characteristic rows of thick bristles on the interior margin of the fore tibia, and is supported by COI molecular sequence data. This species is distributed from Tobago to northern Argentina.

Keywords: Neotropics; barcode sequence; enteric valve; soil-feeder.

Daniel Castro, Joice P. Constantini, Rudolf H. Scheffrahn, Tiago F. Carrijo, Eliana M. Cancello.