A new rovno amber termite genus (Isoptera, rhinotermitidae) from Styr river basin

Abstract

Lukotermes milescaput gen. et sp. nov. is described on the basis of a dealate specimen from the Eocene amber of Vladimirets district of Rovno region (Ukraine). We provisionally attribute it to the family Rhinotermitidae, subfamily Heterotermitinae for its head shape. It is remarkable for its elongate head capsule with lateral sides parallel and its tibial spur formula 2:2:2. This last character is quite infrequent in this family, also present in the closely related family Serritermitidae, questioning its phylogenetic relationships. This point will be clarified only after the discovery of other specimens showing the wing venation and the mandibular dentition. It is also a very small termite, smallest fossil rhinotermitid, and the second smallest Paleogene termite after the Ypresian genus Nanotermes Engel and Grimaldi, 2011. It was supposed that initial weight of parents was more crucial in mesothermal climates with low seasonality of Priabonian European amber forests than in tropical climate of Ypresian Cambay forest. It could be the reason why miniaturization is very strong in Cambay termites and hardly seen in Priabonian ambers, rather than taphonomic biases.