The termites of Early Eocene Cambay amber, with the earliest record of the Termitidae (Isoptera)
Issue Date
2011-10-21Author
Engel, Michael S.
Grimaldi, David A.
Nascimbene, Paul
Singh, Hukam
Publisher
Pensoft Publishers
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The fauna of termites (Isoptera) preserved in Early Eocene amber from the Cambay Basin (Gujarat, India) are described and figured. Three new genera and four new species are recognized, all of them Neoisoptera – Parastylotermes krishnai Engel & Grimaldi, sp. n. (Stylotermitidae); Prostylotermes kamboja Engel & Grimaldi, gen. et sp. n. (Stylotermitidae?); Zophotermes Engel, gen. n., with Zophotermes ashoki Engel & Singh, sp. n. (Rhinotermitidae: Prorhinotermitinae); and Nanotermes isaacae Engel & Grimaldi, gen. et sp. n. (Termitidae: Termitinae?). Together these species represent the earliest Tertiary records of the Neoisoptera and the oldest definitive record of Termitidae, a family that comprises >75% of the living species of Isoptera. Interestingly, the affinities of the Cambay amber termites are with largely Laurasian lineages, in this regard paralleling relationships seen between the fauna of bees and some flies. Diversity of Neoisoptera in Indian amber may reflect origin of the amber deposit in Dipterocarpaceae forests formed at or near the paleoequator.
Description
This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.pensoft.net.
ISSN
1313-2989Collections
Citation
Engel, Michael S.; Grimaldi, David; Nascimbene, Paul; Singh, Hukam. 2011. The termites of Early Eocene Cambay amber, with the earliest record of the Termitidae (Isoptera). ZooKeys 148:105-123. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.148.1797
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