1223 A New Synonymy of Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) by Zhi-Qiang Li, Jun-Hong Zhong & Wei-Liang Xiao1 ABSTRACT The taxonomy of the genus Coptotermes is far from settled in the world, especially in China. Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki had been described or misidentified as several different species in China based on measurement characteristics. In this paper, the synonyms of C. formosanus from China are listed, and it is proposed that C. guizhouensis is a new junior synonym of C. formosanus. Key words: termites, Coptotermes formosanus, Coptotermes guizhouensis. INTRODUCTION The taxonomy of the genus Coptotermes lacks some careful revisions (Egg- leton 1999; Vargo & Husseneder 2009). The Formosan subterranean termite (FST), Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, 1909, which originated from China, is so far the most important and destructive invasive termite species (Evans 2011). The widespread and destructive species appears to be paraphyletic with respect to several other species in the Coptotermes genus (Gentz et al. 2008). The size of individuals of C. formosanus has been observed to increase with increasing age (Huang et al. 2000). In the 1980s and 1990s, a substantial number of Coptotermes species in China were described, and the genus is in serious need of revision in China (Li et al. 2011). Even worse, the original descriptions of those Coptotermes species were described in Chinese, and they are often not reviewed by for- eign taxonomists. A high degree of variation exists in the measurements of C. formosanus among different ages and different populations in China, and seven synonymies have been reported, including C. hongkongensis Oshima, 1914, C. eucalyptus Ping, 1984, C. xiaoliangensis Ping, 1984, C. heteromorphus Ping, 1985, C. guangzhouensis Ping, 1985, C. communis Xia et He, 1986, Guangdong Entomological Institute, Guang zhou 510260, China 1Corresponding author, email : xwl@gdei.gd.cn 1224 Sociobiolog y Vol. 59, No. 4, 2012 C. rectangularis Ping et Xu, 1986 (Snyder 1949; Huang et al. 2000). In this paper, a new junior synonym of C. formosanus is proposed. MATERIALS AND METHODS Based on the original description of the related species of C. formosanus regarding the Chinese termite literature, the characteristics and measure- ments of soldiers and imagoes were carefully compared with C. formosanus reported by Harris (1966), Xia & He (1986), Roonwal & Chhotani (1989), and Huang et al. (2000), especially the measurement characteristics of C. formosanus among different ages in a laboratory colony (Huang et al. 2000). The following acronyms are used in the paper: Guangdong Entomological Institute (GDEI); Shanghai Institute of Entomology, Academia Sinica (SIEC); Dipartimento di Entomologia, Italy (DDEI); Naturhistorika Riksmuseet, Sweden (NRS). SYNONYMY Coptotermes guizhouensis He et Qiu, 1992 resembles C. formosanus, and soldiers of both species have two pairs of setae at the base of the fontanelle. He & Qiu (1992) originally described this species. He & Qiu (1992) indi- cated that the diagnostic characteristics for C. guizhouensis were that the widths of pronotum of soldiers were narrower compared with those of C. formosanus, and the number of antennal segments of C. guizhouensis imagos was 19 segments. However, the range of measurements of C. formosanus has been extended, which showed that the measurement of C. guizhouensis fell within the overall range of the measurement characteristics of C. formosanus (Table 1). Therefore, the diagnostic characteristics of C. guizhouensis according to He & Qiu (1992) are untenable, which implies that C. guizhouensis lacks obvious and reliable characteristics with which it can be distinguished from C. formo- sanus. C. guizhouensis is therefore a junior synonym for C. formosanus. Coptotermes formosanus Skiraki, 1909 Coptotermes formosanus Skiraki, 1909, Japanses Trans. Entom. 2: 239. Type: ?. Type locality: Taiwan. Termes raffrayi Matsumura, 1910, Die schädlichen und nützlichen Insekten vom Zuckerrohr Formosas : 1. 1225 Li, Z.-Q. et al. — A new Synonymy of Coptotermes Formosanus Coptotermes formosae Holmgre, 1911:192. Syntypes: [NRS]. Type local- ity: Taiwan. Coptotermes hongkongensis Oshima, 1914, Annotationes Zoologicae Japonenses 8:559. Type: ?. Type locality: Hongkong. Coptotermes intrudens Oshima, 1920, Proc. Hawaiian Entomol. Soc. 4:262. Type: ?. Type locality: Hawaii. Cryptotermes hongkongensis Campbell, 1922:82. Coptotermes remotes Silvestri, 1928, Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia General e Agraria 21:93. Snytypes: [DDEI]. Type locality: South Africa. Coptotermes communis Xia et He, 1986, Contr. Shanghai Inst. Entomol. Table 1. Measurements (in millimeters) of soldiers and imagos of Coptotermes formosanus and Coptotermes guizhouensis. Measurement Coptotermes formosanus C. guizhouensis He & Qiu (1992) Harris (1966) Xia & He (1986) Roonwal & Chhotani (1989) Huang et al. (2000) Soldier Length of head to lateral base of mandibles 1.36-1.59 1.50-1.60 1.43-1.65 1.43-1.68 1.42–1.51 Max width of head 1.14-1.28 1.13-1.15 1.05-1.30 1.07-1.25 1.20–1.27 Left mandible length 0.95-1.00 0.95-1.08 0.95-1.03 0.90-1.05 0.91 Max length of postmentum --- 0.90-0.93 0.88-1.08 0.93-1.00 0.96–1.03 Max width of postmentum --- 0.40-0.43 0.40-0.43 0.37-0.43 0.41–0.43 Min width of postmentum --- 0.23-0.28 --- 0.21-0.26 0.24–0.26 Max width of pronotum 0.77-0.86 0.78-0.88 0.75-0.93 0.80-0.94 0.77–0.79 Max length of pronotum --- 0.45-0.53 0.40-0.53 0.38-0.50 0.41–0.46 Length of hind tibia 1.04-1.14 1.08-1.15 --- 0.90-1.05 1.01–1.08 Imago Max width of head with eyes 1.53-1.63 1.45-1.53 1.50-1.71 1.42-1.63 1.37–1.39 Max diameter of eye 0.43-0.45 0.37-0.40 0.43-0.45 0.37-0.45 0.37–0.39 Min diameter of eye --- 0.38-0.38 --- 0.32-0.37 0.32 Min distance of eye-lower margin of head --- 0.12-0.18 --- 0.16-0.18 0.14 Min eye-ocellus distance 0.03-0.05 0.02-0.04 0.03-0.05 0.03-0.07 0.02 Max diameter of ocellus 0.16-0.20 0.20-0.23 0.16-0.20 0.16-0.22 0.17–0.18 Min diameter of ocellus --- 0.15-0.18 --- 0.13-0.15 0.13 Max width of pronotum 1.30-1.43 1.33-1.35 1.30-1.52 1.21-1.46 1.27 Max length of pronotum --- 0.88-0.90 0.80-0.93 0.77-0.87 0.77 Length of forewing sacle --- 1.13-1.15 1.00-1.28 1.10-1.16 0.96 Length of hindwing sacle --- 0.75-0.75 0.60-0.80 0.68-0.74 0.60 Length of hind tibia --- 1.38-1.50 --- 1.32-1.53 1.37–1.37 Number of antennal segments --- 19-20 20-21 19-21 19 1226 Sociobiolog y Vol. 59, No. 4, 2012 6:166. Holotype: soldier, imago, work [SIEC]. Type locality: Jinhua [China, Zhejiang ]. Coptotermes eucalyptus Ping, 1984, Ecol. Syst. Trop. Subt. Fore. Res. 2:186. Holotype: soldier [GDEI]. Type locality: Xiaoling [China, Guangdong ]. Coptotermes guangzhouensis Ping, 1985, Entomotaxonomia 7:137. Holo- type: soldier [GDEI]. Type locality: Guangzhou [China, Guangdong ]. Coptotermes heteromorphus Ping, 1985, Entomotaxonomia 7: 320. Holo- type: soldier [GDEI]. Type locality: Guangzhou [China, Guangdong ]. Coptotermes rectangularis Ping et Xu, 1986, Sci. Silv. Sin. 22: 157. Holotype: soldier [GDEI]. Type locality: Congjiang county [China, Guizhou]. Coptotermes xiaoliangensis Ping, 1984, Ecol. Syst. Trop. Subt. Fore. Res. 2:184. Holotype: soldier [GDEI].Type locality: Xiaoling [China, Guangdong ]. Coptotermes guizhouensis He et Qiu, 1992, Science and Technolog y of Ter- mites 9:1. Holotype: soldier, [SIEC]. Type locality: Conjiang county [China, Guizhou]. NEW SYNONYMY. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31172163) and the Guangdong Academy of Sciences Foundation for Excellent Young Scientists and Technicians (200901). REFERENCES Eggleton, P. 1999. Termite species description rates and the state of termite taxonomy. Insectes Sociaux 46:1–5. Evans, T.A. 2011. Chapter 19. Invasive Termites, pp. 519–562. In: D.E. Bignell, et al. (Eds.). Biolog y of termites: a modern synthesis. Springer Science+Business Media, New York, 576 pp. Harris, W.V. 1966. On the genus Coptotermes in Africa (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (B) 35(11–12): 165- 166. He, X.S. & Q.S. Qiu 1992. A new species of the genus Coptotermes from Guizhou Province, China (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Science and technolog y of termites 9(2): 1–3. Huang, F.S., G.X. Li, & S.M. Zhu 1989. The taxonomy and biolog y of Chinese termites (Isoptera). Tianze Press, Beijing, 605 pp. Huang, F.S., S.M. Zhu, Z.M. Ping, X.S. He, G.X. Li, & D.R. Gao 2000. Fauna Sinica, vol. 17, Insecta, Isoptera. Science Press, Beijing, 961 pp. 1227 Li, Z.-Q. et al. — A new Synonymy of Coptotermes Formosanus Li, Z.Q., B.R. Liu, Q.J. Li, W.L. Xiao & J.H. Zhong 2011. Two new synonyms of Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann) (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in China. Sociobiolog y 58(2): 449- 456. Roonwal, M.L. & O.B. Chhotani 1989. The Fauna of India and the Adjacent Countries. Isoptera (Termites). Vol. I (Introduction and Families Termopsidae, Hodotermitidae, Kalotermitidae, Rhinotermitidae, Stylotermitidae and Indotermitidae). Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. Pp. 434-441. Snyder, T. 1949. Catalog of the termites (Isoptera) of the world. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 112:78. Vargo, E.L. & C. Husseneder 2009. Biolog y of Subterranean Termites: Insights from Molecular Studies of Reticulitermes and Coptotermes. Annual Review of Entomolog y 54:379–403. Xia, K.L. & X.S. He 1986. Study on the genus Coptotermes from China (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Contr. Shanghai Inst. Entomol. 6(6):157-182.