Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

A termite from the Late Oligocene of northern Ethiopia

Michael S. Engel, Aaron D. Pan, and Bonnie F. Jacobs

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58 (2), 2013: 331-334 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.2011.0198

Termites of the family Stolotermitidae are a relict lineage of primitive Isoptera. The fossil record of Stolotermitidae is exceptionally poor, with only two Miocene (Neogene) species documented to date. Herein, a new genus and species of Paleogene termites is described and figured from the Late Oligocene (28–27 Ma, Early Chattian) of northwestern Ethiopia (Amhara Region, Chilga Woreda). Chilgatermes diamatensis gen. et sp. nov., is most similar to genera of the Stolotermitidae, Archotermopsidae, and Termopsidae but can be distinguished on the basis of forewing venational details. The genus is tentatively placed in the Stolotermitidae: Porotermitinae. Chilgatermes diamatensis is the first fossil termite from Ethiopia and, indeed, the first from the entire African continent.

Michael S. Engel [msengel@ku.edu], Division of Entomology (Paleoentomology), Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 1501 Crestline Drive – Suite 140, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA; and Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th, New York, New York 10024-5192, USA; Aaron D. Pan [apan@dhdc.org], Don Harrington Discovery Center, 1200 Streit Drive, Amarillo, Texas 79106-1759, USA, and Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 1700 N. University Drive, Fort Worth, Texas 76107-3400, USA; Bonnie F. Jacobs [bjacobs@smu.edu], Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, PO Box 750395, Dallas, Texas 75275-0395, USA.


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