Isognathotermes loubetsiensis (Sjöstedt, 1924)

Fig. 58

Revised herein as junior synonym of I. planifrons .

Cubitermes loubetsiensis Sjöstedt, 1924c: 493 .

Cubitermes loubetsiensis – Sjöstedt 1926: 246–247. — Snyder 1949: 161. — Krishna et al. 2013: 1926.

Mirotermes (Cubitermes) loubetsiensis – Emerson 1928: 515–516, text-fig. 58, pl. XXX.

Cubitermes finitimus – Josens & Deligne 2019: 60.

Isognathotermes finitimus – Hellemans et al. 2021: 233.

Junior synonym of Isognathotermes planifrons (Sjöstedt, 1924) . Syn. nov.

Etymology

The epithet loubetsiensis (from Loubetsi and Latin suffix -ensis, from) refers to the type locality (Loubetsi, Republic of Congo).

Historical review

Sjöstedt (1924c: 493) briefly described the soldier of this species under the name Cubitermes loubetsiensis, mentioning that it is close to the soldier of C. subarquatus .

Two years later, he provided a first description and some measurements of imago and worker (Sjöstedt 1926: 246–247). He included (1926: 218–226) this species in imagines’ and soldiers’ keys of Cubitermes species and inserted it in a “ fungifaber -Gruppe” of species with a not humped soldier’s frons.

Emerson (1928: 515–516) re-described the species under the name Mirotermes (Cubitermes) loubetsiensis based on specimens collected at Medje (DRC, Haut-Uele Province). He provided a redescription of queen and soldier together with some measurements of worker. However, these specimens were misidentified (Krishna et al. 2013: 1926); they are presently assigned to I. finitimus .

Snyder (1949: 161) catalogued this species under the name Cubitermes loubetsiensis and housed it in the sub-family Termitinae .

Krishna et al. (2013: 1926) housed Cubitermes loubetsiensis in the sub-family Cubitermitinae . They reported that Emerson (in his unpublished “card catalog”) considered C. loubetsiensis as a junior synonym of C. finitimus . Synonymy of the two species is compatible with their EVAs, as Josens & Deligne (2019: 42–44) placed this species within the finitimus valve pattern group. Hellemans et al. (2021: 233) placed this species in the restored genus Isognathotermes .

Two type subsamples have been examined, both limited to the soldier caste (see Isognathotermes planifrons, DJ 0281 and DJ 0611). Only four samples in the museum collections bore the name “ C. loubetsiensis ”: the type samples and two misidentified samples (presently assigned to I. finitimus). Our morphology study (this article) shows that the type matches well I. planifrons . Therefore, I. loubetsiensis (Sjöstedt, 1924) is from now on considered a junior synonym of Isognathotermes planifrons (Sjöstedt, 1924) .