Hospitalitermes krishnai, Syaukani,, Thompson, Graham J. & Yamane, Seiki, 2011

Syaukani,, Thompson, Graham J. & Yamane, Seiki, 2011, Hospitalitermes krishnai, a new nasute termite (Nasutitermitinae, Termitidae, Isoptera), from southern Sumatra, Indonesia, ZooKeys 148, pp. 161-169 : 162-164

Hospitalitermes krishnai sp. n. Figs 17

Description.

Alates. Not available

Soldier.

(Figs 1-4). Monomorphic. Head capsule entirely black (with indistinct spots behind antennal sockets); nasus with apical third lighter and basal two-thirds darker; antenna (except for the first segment) uniformly sepia brown to dark sepia brown, paler than head capsule. Pronotum in dorsal view slightly paler than or similar to head capsule in coloration. Abdominal tergites dark brown to blackish brown. Coxae and femora sepia brown to dark sepia brown; tibiae pale brown to brown. Head capsule in dorsal view moderately constricted behind antennal sockets, with anterior part excluding nasus extremely smaller than posterior part in size; median portion of its posterior margin nearly straight; dorsal outline (including nasus) in profile moderately concave (i.e., showing a depression). Nasus in dorsal view relatively short and robust, less than half as long as head capsule, in profile slightly up-curved but apical third feebly down-curved. Antenna with 14 segments; third segment longer than fourth; fourth and fifth nearly equal in length, the former slightly broader than the later; 6th-14th gradually decreasing in length. Pronotum in dorsal view with anterior margin very feebly indented in the middle and posterior margin roundly convex.

Worker.

(Figs 5-6) Dimorphic. Head capsule dark brown to black. Epicranial suture brown. Fontanel brown to dark brown. Labrum yellowish to brown. Clypeus brown to blackish brown. Anticlypeus yellowish. Antennasepia brown except for the first segment. Antenna consisting of 15 segments; third segment longer than fourth; fourth slightly shorter than or equal to fifth; 6th-15th gradually increasing in length. Left mandible: apical tooth clearly shorter than first marginal tooth; anterior edge of first marginal tooth distinctly longer than posterior edge; second marginal tooth absent, third marginal tooth smaller than first marginal tooth, but fairly protruding from cutting edge and separated from molar prominence by a distinct gap; fourth marginal tooth retracted, completely hiding behind molar prominence. Right mandible: first marginal tooth with anterior edge almost straight; second marginal tooth clearly recognized and separated from much larger first marginal tooth; posterior edge of second marginal tooth nearly straight; outline of molar plate slightly visible; cockroach notch of molar plate absent.

Comparisons.

In the soldier caste, Hospitalitermes krishnai sp. n. differs from Hospitalitermes birmanicus Snyder both in the shape of the head capsule and nasus in dorsal view. The coloration of both antennae and tibiae (pale brown to dark sepia brown) distinguishes Hospitalitermes krishnai sp. n. from Hospitalitermes umbrinus (Haviland) and Hospitalitermes diurnus Kemner. In Hospitalitermes krishnai the nasus is less than half as long as the head capsule; this distinguishes it from Hospitalitermes hospitalis (Haviland), Hospitalitermes medioflavus (Holmgren), and Hospitalitermes lividiceps (Holmgren) in which the nasus is more than half as long as head capsule. Finally, Hospitalitermes krishnai is distinguished from Hospitalitermes seikii Syaukani by the gold-orange abdominal tergites in the latter species.

This species can be distinguished from other related Hospitalitermes from Southeast Asia bythe anterior part of the head capsule that is much smaller than the posterior part, the head capsule that is constricted behind the antennal sockets, and the relatively deep depression between the head and nasus and, finally, the short and robust nasus measuring less than half as long as head capsule.

From the examination of thousands of specimens of Hospitalitermes from the Syaukani personal collection, as well as a number of type series at the Natural History Museum (London), we note that the pilosity cannot be used as a reliable character for identification since specimens from different Hospitalitermes colonies appear extremely variable in this character. We therefore do not consider pilosity here. Moreover, we think that similar variation in the concavity of the head capsule may occur in some related species ( Chhotani 1997), and that soldier “eyes” described by Chhotani are actually just indistinct spots. Strictly, speaking Hospitalitermes soldiers do not have eyes.

Material Examined.

Holotype:soldier collected in the afternoon from a mass processional column on the forest floor (very steep slope) in an undisturbed lowland/sub-montane rain forest (1.250 m in altitude), Sumber Jaya (4°47'16"S, 103°35'8"E), Kotabumi, Lampung Province, Sumatra. The nest was not located. Syaukani leg., 18 September, 2007. Colony code: SY-2007-LP-0092. The holotype is deposited at Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Cibinong, Indonesia. Paratypes (soldiers and workers from the same colony from which the holotype was collected) are deposited at M useum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Cibinong (Indonesia), the Natural History Museum, London (UK), Syiah Kuala University, Darussalam, Banda Aceh (Indonesia), the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History (Japan), and the American Museum of Natural History, New York (USA).

Etymology.

This species is named after Professor Kumar Krishna who has made significant, life-long contributions to the knowledge of the taxonomy, systematics and biology of termites.