Tanytermitalis philetaerus Engel & Cai, 2021

JIANG, RI-XIN, ZHANG, HONG-RUI, ELDREDGE, K. TARO, SONG, XIAO-BIN, LI, YAN-DA, TIHELKA, ERIK, HUANG, DI-YING, WANG, SHUO, ENGEL, MICHAEL S. & CAI, CHEN-YANG, 2021, Further evidence of Cretaceous termitophily: Description of new termite hosts of the trichopseniine Cretotrichopsenius (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), with emendations to the classification of lower termites (Isoptera), Palaeoentomology 4 (4), pp. 374-389 : 386

Tanytermitalis philetaerus Engel & Cai , sp. nov.

( Figs 1B, D , 7 )

Holotype. Holotype alate, NIGP174707 . In mid- Cretaceous amber from Kachin Province, northern Myanmar. Deposited in the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology , Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China .

Etymology. The specific epithet is taken from the Greek term ΦΙΛέταΙΡΟΣ (philetairos) [composed of ΦῘÌΛΟΣ (phílos), meaning, “beloved”, and ἑταῖΡΟΣ (hetaîros), meaning, “friend”), and refers to the relationship between these termites and their inquilines.

Diagnosis. As for the genus (vide supra).

Description. Imago: Total body length (as preserved) 5.28 mm; length of head to apex of labrum 1.12 mm; head width 0.68 mm; compound eye diameter 0.22 mm; distance from compound eye to posterior margin 0.36 mm; pronotal medial length 0.50 mm; pronotal width 0.87 mm; metatibial length 0.58 mm; length of forewing with scale 6.72 mm; forewing width 2.24 mm. Integument dark brown, microsculpturing of head finely imbricate. Setation of head and body sparse; setae not evident on pronotum. Rs with four simple branches, Rs terminating before wing apex; M with four main branches, M terminating at wing apex, basalmost branch terminating at apical quarter of posterior wing margin; CuA pectinately branched, with at least four simple branches (remainder of CuA obscured in holotype), cubital field occupying majority of posterior wing margin.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Mid-Cretaceous termites with their putative rove beetle termitophiles. A, Arceotermes hospitis gen. et sp. nov. and Cretotrichopsenius burmiticus Cai et al., 2017a (QUST-INSECT-0015). B, Tanytermitalis philetaerus gen. et sp. nov. and C. burmiticus (NIGP174707). C, The entire amber piece of QUST-INSECT-0015. D, The entire amber piece of NIGP174707. Scale bars = 1 mm in A & C; 2 mm in B; 10 mm in D.

FIGURE 7. Holotype alate of Tanytermitalis philetaerus Engel & Cai, gen. et sp. nov., alate (NIGP174707). A, Dorsal habitus. B, Detail of portion of right antenna as preserved. C, Dorsal view of head. D, Ventral view of head, green fluorescence light source. E, Right foreleg. F, Left midleg. G, Left hind leg. Scale bars = 1 mm in A–D; 400 μm in E–G.