Velocitermes heteropterus (Silvestri 1901)

Diversitermes needhami Roonwal et al. 1981: 348, new synonym; Krishna et al. 2013: 1571 [catalog].

Material examined. BRAZIL, São Paulo, Guarani (Guatapará), 26.x.1945, A. da Costa-Lima leg.; AMNH and MZSP- 3544.

Remarks. The manuscript name “ Diversitermes needhami ” was present in specimen labels of a putative new species in A.E. Emerson's collection (AMNH). Some of these specimens, labeled as “ paratypes ”, were donated by Emerson to several colleagues and institutions. Roonwal et al. (1981) described the wing microsculpturing of some of these specimens, unintentionally making the name available. They did not designate types nor list the material examined, just mention the locality: “ South America: Guarany (Sao Paulo, Brazil)” [sic]. The type locality was near an old train station, which was deactivated several decades ago (lat 21.43°S long 48.1°W) . We have examined specimens from the original series in AMNH and MZSP and concluded that they belong to V. heteropterus .