Taxonomy of the genus Longipeditermes Holmgren (Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae) from the Greater Sundas, Southeast Asia

Abstract

More than 200 colonies of the genus Longipeditermes were collected in our field surveys across the Sundaland region of Southeast Asia from 1998 to 2014. Two species, L. kistneri Akhtar & Ahmad and L. logipes Holmgren, are recognized and redescribed with color photographs of the workers and major soldiers. We use variation in characters of soldier caste (head capsules, antennae, and pronotum) and worker caste (antennae and mandibles) to distinguish these two species. Longipeditermes kistneri seems to prefer high-altitude forests (above 1,000 m) and has so far been found exclusively in Java and Sumatra, while L. logipes seems to prefer lowland and swamp forests and is widespread in the Greater Sundas.