The termites of Early Eocene Cambay amber, with the earliest record of the Termitidae (Isoptera)

Abstract

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.

Biting Midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from Cambay Amber Indicate that the Eocene Fauna of the Indian Subcontinent Was Not Isolated

“…Initial studies of inclusions have revealed little faunal isolation of the Indian subcontinent [17]. Rather, other insects in Cambay amber have shown connections to Eocene European Baltic amber (48–43 Ma; [18, 19, 20]) and to the Miocene as well as the modern Neotropics [21, 22]. Interestingly, so far only the whipspiders (Amblypygi) and webspinners (Embioptera) from Cambay amber show biogeographic affinities to Africa and to Africa and South America respectively, indicating a possible Gondwanan origin for these taxa [23, 24].…”

Whipspiders (Arachnida: Amblypygi) in amber from the Early Eocene and mid-Cretaceous, including maternal care

“…This further highlights the broad biogeographic connections between Cambay amber arthropods and coeval or surviving relatives in lands as distant as South America and northern Europe (Rust et al, 2010). Many of these examples are indicative of widespread groups occupying continental areas as well as the Indian subcontinent (e.g., Engel et al, 2011aEngel et al, , 2011bGrimaldi & Singh, 2012;Grimaldi et al, 2013aGrimaldi et al, , 2013bEngel et al, 2013), which was still marginally separated by shallow waters and archipelagos during the Ypresian (Chatterjee & Scotese, 2010;Chatterjee et al, 2013). It is highly unlikely, however, that P. cambayensis were capable of extensive dispersion, particularly over large bodies of water.…”

Two New Species ofPterydriasReitter (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae), Significantly Expanding the Biogeographic Range of the Genus

“…Nonetheless, the observed distributions, particularly those between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, are commonly found among many groups (Grimaldi and Engel 2005), especially when looking at lineages surviving in the latter regions and known from Tertiary fossils in the former (e.g., Ander 1942;Böhme and Weitschat 1998;Engel 2001;Engel et al 2007Engel et al , 2013aPadayachee and Procheş 2016), or even strictly fossil lineages that link the past fauna of Europe with southern Asia (e.g., Grimaldi and Singh 2012;Engel et al 2013b). It is likely that several ripidiine genera or more inclusive clades were widespread during parts of the Tertiary and have subsequently become more restricted in distribution.…”