Cyranotermes karipuna Rocha, Carrijo & Cancello, 2012, new species
Creators: name: Rocha, Mauricio M.
name: Carrijo, Tiago F.
name: Cancello, Eliana M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Isoptera
Termitidae
Cyranotermes
Cyranotermes karipuna

description: Cyranotermes karipuna, new species
Holotype. Soldier, part of the lot 14452, labeled “ BRA: RO, UHE STO, M. Rocha & J. Cabral col. 14.vi.2011 ATP: TPP1 Amostra: 2Ba”, collected at: 9° 27' 17.60"S, 64° 23' 32.40"W, district of Jaci Paraná, municipality of Porto Velho, state of Rondônia. Kept separately in the same vial with paratypes.
Paratypes. Soldiers and workers with same data as holotype plus: Rondônia: municipality of Porto Velho. Jaci Paraná district, coordinates 9° 27' 6.04" S, 64° 21' 28.97" W, 20.ix.2010, T. Carrijo & R. Santos coll. (14455), coordinates 9° 27' 3.76" S, 64° 20' 55.85" W (14454), coordinates 9° 17' 19.07" S, 64° 45' 0.64" W, 9.i.2011, R. Santos & C. Mandai coll. (14453); Teotônio district, coordinates 8° 49' 1.71" S, 64° 5' 43.54" W, 1.vi.2011, M.M. Rocha & J. Cabral coll. (14456).
Etymology. Karipuna is an Indian ethnic group of which only 14 individuals remain in the Rondônia state, they live near the Jaci River, close to the type locality of this species.
Imago (Figs. 1 B, D and F). Head capsule approximately rectangular (without eyes) in dorsal view. Semispherical eyes, oval in profile, major diameter approximately equal to half of the cephalic capsule length, close to the inferior margin of the head. Ocelli oval and projected, clearly visible in profile and dorsal view, almost reaching the eyes, major diameter approximately equal to half of eye diameter. Fontanelle approximately elliptical; in dorsal view aligned with the center of the eyes. Postclypeus inflated, with the median line well marked. Number of antennal articles uncertain (in all the specimens the antennae are incomplete). Mandibles as described for the worker, except for a narrower molar plate (Fig. 4). Pronotum sub trapezoidal, anterior margin slightly raised, and anterior and posterior margins emarginated. Head covered with scattered bristles and microscopic hairs. Pronotum with scattered bristles around the margins and microscopic hairs on the entire surface, denser on the middle. Abdominal tergites and sternites with a line of bristles on posterior margins, short hairs covering only the last two tergites and all sternites. Legs covered with a layer of short hairs and sparse bristles. Tibial spurs formula 2:2:2. Measurements of one male and one female from the same colony: male LH: 0.65; WH: 0.99; DE: 0.37; DO: 0.17; WP: 69; LT: 1.24; female. LH: 0.67; WH: 1.02; DE: 0.35; DO: 0.16; WP: 0.77; LT: 1.20.
Comparisons. See the comparison with C. timuassu, above.
Comments. The pronotum of the female is wider than that of the male but, because of the low number of individuals available, we could not characterize it as a sexual dimorphism, as it could be a variation among individuals independent of sex.
Soldier (Figs. 2 D and 3D). Head capsule pyriform in dorsal view, slightly strangled below the antennal sockets (Fig. 2 D), frontal tube conical and very elongated, slightly upturned in profile (Fig. 3 D). Antennae with 13 articles, second half size of first, third equal to first, fourth slightly shorter than second, fifth intermediate and sixth onethird longer than second, subsequent articles sub-equal and similar to sixth. Pronotum margins rounded. Head capsule glabrous, except for the tip of the frontal tube, with four bristles. Pronotum, mesonotum and metanotum glabrous. Abdominal tergites with four to six bristles on posterior margins plus microscopic hairs; terminal tergites also with short hairs; sternites with a line of perpendicular bristles on the posterior margin plus many short hairs. Femur covered with sparse long bristles on the inner and lateral surface, the same on the tibiae, along with many stiff, spine-like hairs in internal margin not organized in a row, first coxae with microscopic hairs and without bristles, other coxae with short hairs. Head capsule pale-yellow, frontal tube ferruginous orange or darker, body paleyellow. Measurements of 15 individuals from five different colonies: LR: 1.58–1.85; LF: 0.81–0.98; WH: 0.63– 0.73; HH: 0.43–0.53; LT: 0.99–1.18.
Comparisons. Soldiers of C. timuassu (Figs. 2 A and 3A) and C. caete (Figs. 2 B and 3B) have a rounder head capsule, and proportionally longer frontal tube than C. karipuna n. sp.; moreover, C. timuassu shows sparse bristles on the head, totally absent in C. karipuna n. sp. The closest species is C. glaber (Figs. 2 C and 3C), but C. karipuna n. sp. (Figs. 2 D and 3D) is smaller; the frontal tube is narrower, and slightly more upturned; and the head is proportionally slimmer in profile.
Worker. Head capsule close to a trapezoid in dorsal view, postclypeus very inflated and acuminated, Y-suture and fontanelle not visible. Antennae with 14 articles. Head with scattered bristles and some microscopic hairs. Postclypeus with a pair of bristles in the center, on the top, and a few on the front margin and in lateral region; labrum with two rows of three bristles near the center, the proximal erect and others forward oriented. Pronotum with bristles on the margins and scattered microscopic hairs. Tergites and sternites all covered with bristles, sternites also with a dense layer of short hairs and long erect long bristles. Legs covered with sparse bristles and short hairs. Measurements of 15 individuals from five different colonies: WH: 0.81–0.93; LT: 0.87–1.10.
Worker mandibles (Fig. 4). Left: apical tooth twice the size of M1+2, M3 indistinct, molar tooth conspicuous, partially hidden by molar prominence; molar prominence concave without ridges. Right: apical tooth three times the size of M1, M2 absent, molar plate concave, wide, without ridges.
Worker digestive tube. Morphology as described by Fontes (1987a), differing from C. timuassu only in size, smaller but keeping the proportions. Enteric valve (Fig. 5) similar to C. caete and C. timuassu, with more spines in three layers in the first order cushions, and more clearly distinct between the size of the first and second order cushions than in C. glaber.
Biology. Most of specimens were collected foraging in the soil, under rotten logs or abandoned nests. One of the samples (MZUSP 14452), probably an initial colony, was collected with the royal pair (Figs. 6 A and 6B), buried in the soil, under a log partially rotten. The nest was a hollow spherical construction of approximately two centimeters in diameter with a unique entrance (Fig. 6 A, arrow), and was internally occupied by meander projections from the walls. This nest is similar to those already described for C. timuassu and C. glaber, although in the last the chambers are larger (about 5 cm of diameter).
description: Published as part of Rocha, Mauricio M., Carrijo, Tiago F. & Cancello, Eliana M., 2012, An illustrated key to the soldiers of Cyranotermes Araujo with a new species from Amazonia (Isoptera: Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae), pp. 50-57 in Zootaxa 3196 on pages 53-56, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.211906