DESCRIPTION OF TWO NEW SPECIES OF TERMITES ( ISOPTERA : INSECTA ) FROM THE HIMALAYA

While studying a fairly large collection of termites from the Himalaya, two new species, namely Angulitermes nepalensis and Ahmaditermes sikkimensis have been recognized. These two species have been described here with comparison with their respective related species and proper illustrations. The genus Angulitermes Sjostedt easily recognized by its frontal projection of the soldier caste, is so far only known from the new world. The Indian subregion contains 18 species distributed in India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Bangladesh (Snyder, 1949; Chatterjee & Thakur, 1964 and Chhotani, 1997). As such, this is the first record of the species and genus from Nepal where termites are extremely poorly studied so far (Weidner, 1976). Ahmaditermes Akhtar, a nasutc Oriental genus, is represented by 12 species from Hong Kong, South China, Thailand and India. Only two species, namely A. emersoni (Maiti) (described as Bulbitennes, Maiti, 1979) from North Bengal and A. pyricephalus Akhtar (1975) from Bangladesh are so far known from Indian subregion.

Oi) Soldier: Head-capsule straw yellow; antennae and labrum as same as head-capsule; mandibles dark reddish brown; body and legs whitish yellow.Head-capsule moderately and body fairly densely pilose.Body length: 4.00-4.10mm.Head-capsule subrectangular; broadest just behind antero-Iateral corners, whence gradually converging behind and somewhat incurved a little above posterior margin; posterior margin convex; antero-lateraI corners somewhat prominent and comparatively chitinised; frontal projection fairly large, prominent with rounded anterior margin, apex pilose, somewhat rounded and turned upwards, reaching upto or sometimes beyond the median depression of labrum.Fontanelle lying below the frontal projection, prominent and less hairy than head; fontanelle gland large and prominent.Eyes and ocelli absent.Antennae broken (last segment); segment I and 2 sparsely and remainder fairly densely pilose; 2 slightly and 4 much smaller than 3, 5-8 club-shaped and increasing gradually in length, 9 to the penultimate one subequal or shorter than 8. Postclypeus weakly swollen and pilose.Anteclypeus whitish and apilose.Labrum a little longer than broad; anterolateral corners with horn-like projections; anterior margin deeply and angularly concave and with hairs; lateral margins narrowing posteriorly.Mandibles of snapping-type, long and slender, pointed out weakly and incurved at distal end, slightly longer than head-length.Postmentum short, club-shaped, widest a little below the anterior margin, with transverse weak striations and apilose, lateral margin weakly incurved basally, anterior margin substraight and posterior margin weakly incurved.

2.
Length of head to lateral base of mandibles 1.12 3.
Length Comparison: The species, Anguliternes nepalensis n. sp.can easily be separated by its shape, size and characters of rostrum and labrum from all other species known from India.However, the species is very close to A.dehraensis from Dehra Dun, (Gardner, 1945) but it can be separated froln this species by the following characters : Fronz A. dehraensis : Soldier -(i) Antero-Iateral corners of head below antennal socket very much prominent and angular (vs., not so prominent in A. dehraensis); (ii) Frontal projection very much prominent, tip raised and directed slightly backward (vs., frontal projection not so prominent, tip not so raised and directed backward rather forward), (iii) Anterior margin of labrum with deep, angular median notch (vs., anterior margin deeply incurved with rounded median emargination); (iv) Tip of labrum very sharply pointed (vs., anterior tip not so pointed); (v) Mandible slightly longer than head-length, head-mandible index (mandible length/head-length) 1.08 (vs., mandible distinctly longer than head-length, head-mandibular index: 1.12-1.26).
(ii) Soldier: Head pale brown; rostrum yellowish brown, darker at the apex.Antennae; pronotum and abdominal tergites pale brown.Head and pronotum with sparse minute hairs; abdomen with more erect hairs.
Head excluding antennae almost pear-shaped with distinct constriction behind the base of the antennae; head slightly longer than broad, broadest posteriorly and slightly smaller than the double the width of constriction below the antennae; lateral margin strongly bulging out.Posterior margin broadly rounded with distinct median emargination; head in dorsal profile almost straight with a feeble hump on rostrum-base; posterior bulge of head moderate (0.42 mm.) Rostrum short almost sub-cylindrical, slightly more than half the head-length with few minute hairs at the tip.Fontanelle gland and its tube prominent.Antennae broken, 2 nd segment somewhat thicker than 3 rd , 3 smaller than 2 nd and double the 4th and 5 th onwards increasing in length and width with profuse hairs.
Labrum small, broader than long.Anteclypeus whitish, much broader than long, anterior Inargin convex; postclypeus distinct with convex anterior margin.Mandibles reduce, small and devoid of any denticle or any spine like process.Molar plates with irregular margin.Postmentum broader than long, broadest in the middle, anterior and posterior margin substraight.
Pronotum strongly saddle-shaped, anterior margin with a median feeble emargination, posterior margin weakly convex.