We report a new record of Eremotermes neoparadoxalis from Haryana, India. Eremotermes Silvestri, 1911 is a highly dispersed genus epitomized by 10 species, six of which have been reported in India, including E. paradoxalis in Harayana. Taxonomic descriptions provided with illustrations of general morphology and measurements of body length, head length with and without mandibles, body pigmentation, antennae segments, tibial spur, tarsal segments, head width, and body width. These keys along with photographs are prepared for both soldier and worker castes of E. neoparadoxalis.
The Coptotermes Wasmann (1896), is a highly scattered genus, which is represented by nine species. Coptotermes emersoni Ahmad (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae: Coptotermitinae) is a species first time reported from Southern Haryana, India, with specimens trapped from banyan tree. Morphometric analysis of soldiers like body length, head length without mandibles, head length with mandibles, body pigmentation, antennae segments, tibial spur, tarsal segments, head width, and body width has been made. These reveals that C. emersoni has crenulations present on each of the mandibles, right mandible with two crenulation and left mandible with five crenulations which make it unique among other species of the genus Coptotermes.
Termites are highly abundant and vital insects that directly and indirectly influence local soils. The present study investigated the morphological and molecular phylogenetics of termite species collected from study fields in southern Haryana, India, from 2020 to 2021. Samples were subjected to integrated systematic analyses, taking into account the mandible features of soldiers for morphological systematics and 16S rRNA gene-based phylogeny for molecular systematics. Based on the external phenotype and relations to reference sequences in NCBI GenBank, 21 species were identified; these included five species each from Odontotermes and Microcerotermes, four species from Coptotermes, two species each from Microtermes and Eremotermes, and one species each from Amitermes, Angulitermes, and Neotermes. 16S rRNA gene sequences were utilized to construct phylogenetic trees to explore the relatedness among identified species. The results of the different molecular phylogenetic approaches including maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and neighbor-joining revealed nearly identical topological relations between the species and grouping of individuals in relation to their genera. The maximum parsimony tree based on mandible features has been found to be effective in clustering multiple species of a given genus in a clade in at least three termite genera.
This study is aimed to know the termite community of the Kurukshetra through sampling by the random hand-picking method, and identified with the keys given by Roonwal and Chhotani, (1989) and Chhotani (1997). A total of 11 species belonging to two families (Termitidae and Rhinotermitidae), two subfamilies (Macrotermitinae and Coptotermitinae) and three genera (Odontotermes, Microtermes and Coptotermes) were observed. Out of these two species are new records from Kurukshetra i.e. Coptotermes kishori and Odontotermes profeae. Termitidae is the most diverse of the two families, and the study reveals the presence of total of 19 species under five genera, four subfamilies and two families.
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