Ereymatermes piquira Cancello & Cuezzo

Cancello, Eliana M. & Cuezzo, Carolina, 2007, A new species of EREYMATERMES Constantino (Isoptera, Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae) from the northeastern Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (Pap. Avulsos Zool., S. Paulo) 47 (23), pp. 283-288 : 284-287

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1590/S0031-10492007002300001

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0C0E2DA4-2CAE-474B-92E2-5C0F852C62FF

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03AC87BD-FFFD-FFD1-3DC8-A14FFD46FC22

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Ereymatermes piquira Cancello & Cuezzo
status

new species

Ereymatermes piquira Cancello & Cuezzo View in CoL ,

new species

( Figs. 1-4 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 )

Etymology. from Tupi, an indian language, “piquira ” means small, short.

Holotype: soldier, part of lot nr MZUSP 11292 View Materials , kept separately and labeled: “ MZUSP 11292 View Materials . BRAZIL. Bahia: Ilhéus, Mata de Esperança (14°47’50”S; 39°03’82”W), 22.V.2001, Yana Teixeira Reis coll.”

Paratypes: soldiers and workers of lot nr 11292 ( MZUSP) with the same data as the holotype .

Imago: unknown.

Soldier ( Figs. 1A, B View FIGURE 1 ): Head capsule oval, in dorsal view, with a slight constriction behind the base of antennae, at the middle of the head considered from the base of the nasus till the rear margin of the head capsule. Dorsal margin of head straight or with a slight depression in the middle, in profile. Long cylindrical nasus, not upturned in profile. Labrum very reduced. Top of head with four bristles at the base of nasus and some scattered ones, plus hairs of different size and orientation, and microscopic hairs denser at the base of nasus. Nasus covered with dense microscopic hairs, becoming longer and conspicuous toward the apex. Postclypeus with a couple of bristles. Labrum with four bristles. Postmentum with at least four bristles on anterior margin. Pronotum with some long bristles on anterior margin and some shorter ones on posterior margin; tergites and sternites with many hairs of different sizes and a row of bristles on the posterior margin, decumbent on tergites and perpendicular to the body on sternites. Antenna with 12 articles, 1 st the longest, 2 nd shorter than 1 st and almost equal to the 4 th; 3 rd the shortest; 4 th almost equal to the 5 th and 6 th a little longer than 4 th or 5 th and almost as long as the followings. Tibial spurs 2:2:2. Head capsule yellow; nasus yellow-reddish; antenna yellow; pronotum, mesonotum and metanotum yellowishwhite; digestive tube visible through abdominal sclerites. Measurements of five soldiers from type-colony are given as range, values for holotype in parentheses: LH: 1.32-1.38 (1.38); LHp: 0.82-0.84 (0.84); WH: 0.64-0.66 (0.66); HH: 0.44-0.46 (0.44); WP: 0.38-0.40 (0.38); LT: 0.66-0.70 (0.66).

Worker ( Figs. 1C, D View FIGURE 1 ): Dimorphic. Worker with narrow gap, most frequent than those of broad gap. Both types of workers have the head capsule rounded with the fontanelle region slightly depressed; postclypeus moderately inflated; antenna with 13 articles. Pronotum shallowly saddle-shaped. Tibial spurs 2:2:2. Head capsule with some erect bristles and numerous hairs of different size and orientation over the entire surface. Postclypeus with two stout erect bristles and several hairs on anterior margin; labrum with at least six bristles. Pronotum with bristles on both margins. Measurements of six workers with narrow gap from type-colony are given as range, values for the unique worker with broad gap in parentheses: WH: 0.64-0.69 (0.69); LT: 0.57-0.61 (0.57); left mandible index: 1.5 (1.4).

Mandibles: Worker with narrow gap ( Fig. 2B View FIGURE 2 ): left mandible with cutting edge between apical tooth apex and M1+2 apex, concave; posterior margin of M1+2 almost straight; third marginal tooth small but distinct; separated from the molar prominence by a V-shaped gap; molar tooth barely visible at the small gap, apex hidden beneath the molar prominence; some weak ridges on the molar prominence, visible by translucence. Right mandible with a very large apical tooth, a small rounded first marginal tooth and a much smaller second tooth; molar plate smooth; and basal notch weakly develop.

Worker with broad gap ( Fig. 2A View FIGURE 2 ), differs from the “worker with narrow gap” by having at the left mandible an acute angle between apical tooth and M1+2; this last tooth is sharp and larger, with the posterior margin sinuate; a much more conspicuous third marginal tooth; a broader gap between the third tooth and the molar prominence, showing a larger part of the molar tooth; molar tooth larger; at the right mandible the first marginal tooth is more prominent; and the molar plate have four weakly develop ridges, weaker than those of the molar prominence.

Digestive tube ( Figs. 3 View FIGURE 3 A-F; 4A-B): Gut coiling follows the same generic pattern ( Constantino, 1991; Roisin, 1995). Gizzard (G) with a complete weakly sclerotized cuticular armature (hexa-lateral symmetry), without ornamentations (spines, scales); pulvillar belt more developed than columnar belt ( Fig. 4A View FIGURE 4 ). Length of the folds of first order including the pulvillus, measured on one slide, 0.14-0.15. Mixed segment very small. Malpighian tubules attached on the inner face of the midgut ring in two separated pairs on a small nodule at the junction midgut-hindgut, tubules slightly dilated at their bases. Enteric valve (P2) with a conspicuous armature of six equal triangular swellings (hexa-lateral symmetry). Each swelling has a smooth surface and its most distal portion is deflected forward in the gut lumen as a strongly sclerotized shield bearing a row of acute spines ( Fig. 4B View FIGURE 4 ). Each well-sclerotized swelling is preceded by a bulbous unsclerotized one without spines or with one blunt, short spine. P 2 in the same axis of paunch (P3), which is divided in two compartments, P3a and P3b ( Fig. 3E View FIGURE 3 ). P3b as a conspicuous ring, concealing the foregut in dorsal view. P3 separated from colon (P4) by a conspicuous isthmus. P4a and P4b tubular. “U-turn” conspicuously dilated ( Fig. 3F View FIGURE 3 ).

Comparisons

The soldier of Ereymatermes piquira , n. sp., is distinguished from those of E. panamensis and E. rotundiceps by its smaller size, its narrower and elongate head capsule with a slight constriction in the middle, along with a longer and slender nasus, not upturned in profile.

The workers are very similar to those of the other species of the genus although in the left mandible of the “worker with narrow gap” the third marginal tooth is smaller, the molar tooth is partially visible between the third tooth and the molar prominence, which is smaller than in E. panamensis . In the right mandible the molar plate is smooth, different from that in E. panamensis ( Roisin, 1995, fig. 14). The “worker with broad gap” differs from E. rotundiceps by having the posterior margin of M1+2 sinuate, the third marginal tooth more conspicuous, and by lacking the “extra tooth” ( Constantino, 1991) between the third tooth and the molar prominence.

The “U-turn”, conspicuously dilated in Ereymatermes piquira , n. sp., was also observed in workers of E. rotundiceps deposited at the MZUSP and Fontes (1987b) noticed this character in Cyranotermes . Aside from Angularitermes , all other genera considered “soil-feeder nasutes” of the Neotropical region have a tubular colon.

In Ereymatermes piquira , n. sp., we were not able to observe any variation in worker antennal length as Roisin (1996) did in Subulitermes and Coatitermes .

MZUSP

Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Blattodea

Family

Termitidae

Genus

Ereymatermes

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