Taxonomic assessment of the termite genus Neotermes (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) in the Ryukyu-Taiwan Island arc, with description of a new species

Abstract

The Ryukyu Archipelago of Japan is a recognized global biodiversity hotspot with many endemic species. However, our knowledge of the termite fauna of the Ryukyu Archipelago is insufficient. Here, we report a new species of endemic drywood termite (Kalotermitidae) from the Ryukyu Archipelago. Our systematic study of the genus Neotermes (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) from the Ryukyu-Taiwan Island arc using molecular and morphological methods found that N. koshunensis had also been composed of a second cryptic species, N. sugioi sp. nov. These two species are distributed allopatrically in the Ryukyu-Taiwan Island arc, with the former only in Taiwan and the latter only in the Ryukyu Archipelago. Our discovery of a new drywood termite species from the Ryukyu Archipelago suggests that both morphological and molecular assessments of the species now considered to be distributed widely in the Ryukyu-Taiwan Island arc are needed to clarify the termite fauna of the Ryukyu Archipelago. [Species Zoobank registration: http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E8C9693A-E24F-445D-8445-320564565964].

Keywords: Isoptera, taxonomy, endemic species, Neotermes sugioi, Neotermes koshunensis, Asian drywood termite.