Parastylotermes Snyder & Emerson

Engel, Michael S., Grimaldi, David A., Nascimbene, Paul C. & Singh, Hukam, 2011, The termites of Early Eocene Cambay amber, with the earliest record of the Termitidae (Isoptera), ZooKeys 148, pp. 105-123 : 106

Genus Parastylotermes Snyder & Emerson

Parastylotermes Snyder & Emerson in Snyder 1949: 378. Type species: Stylotermes washingtonensis Snyder, 1931, by original designation.

Comments.

The genus Parastylotermes was erected by Snyder and Emerson (in Snyder 1949) to accommodate two Tertiary species of Laurasian termites allied to the Recent genus Stylotermes Holmgren and Holmgren, from India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and southern China ( Emerson 1971; Krishna et al. in press). Two further species of Parastylotermes were subsequently added by Snyder (1955) and Pierce (1958) from Miocene deposits in southern California. Like Stylotermes , Parastylotermes has trimerous tarsi (a rare condition among the Isoptera ) and similar wing pilosity (membrane largely without setae except on scale, where they are numerous and relatively long), in addition to other stylotermitid features ( Emerson 1971). Parastylotermes differs from Stylotermes in the 2-2-2 tibial spur formula (vs. 3-2-2 in Stylotermes ), M closer to CuA, and more numerously-branched CuA. The hitherto known species were Parastylotermes robustus (Rosen) in mid-Eocene Baltic amber ( Rosen 1913; Weidner 1955; Emerson 1971; Engel et al. 2007a), Parastylotermes washingtonensis (Snyder) from the Miocene Latah Formation of Washington ( Snyder 1931), Parastylotermes frazieri Snyder from the Miocene of Frazier Mountain, California ( Snyder 1955; Emerson 1971), and Parastylotermes calico Pierce from the Miocene nodules of the Calico Mountains, California ( Pierce 1958; Emerson 1971). Remarkably, a fifth species now has been identified in the Early Eocene Cambay amber, significantly expanding the known distribution of the genus and well into the area today occupied by Stylotermes .