Eremotermes neoparadoxalis Ahmad, 1955 (Isoptera: Termitidae: Amitermitinae) a new record from Haryana, India

: We report a new record of Eremotermes neoparadoxalis from Haryana, India. Eremotermes Silvestri, 1911 is a highly dispersed genus epitomized by 10 species, six of which have been reported in India, including E. paradoxalis in Harayana. Taxonomic descriptions provided with illustrations of general morphology and measurements of


Methods
Surveys were conducted throughout southern Haryana, where most vegetation is in agricultural lands and Acacia forest. The sample of E. neoparadoxalis was collected from Hodal (Palwal), Haryana, India in July 2020. The area of sample collection is 27.40 °N & 77.36 °E ( Figure 1; Image 1). Around 50 individuals of the soldier and worker castes were collected from a dung cake with the help of forceps, and preserved in 70% ethanol (Gupta & Kakkar 2015). For the taxonomic description photographs were captured using an Olympus CX41 microscope and Olympus Camedia C-7070 wide zoom Phenotypic characters assessed were: · Head: Shape, color, size, width and length of head with and without mandibles (Table 1) · Antennae: Number and size of the segments · Mandible: Shape, length, arrangement of marginal teeth and size (Table 1) · Labrum: Hyaline tip and its shape · Legs: Tibial spur and number of tarsi segments · Body: Color, length and width

Results and Discussion
A total of 37 termite species were reported from Haryana (Poonia 2019). This diversity was hierarchically listed under 11 genera, six subfamilies (Macrotermitinae, Angulitermitinae, Amitermitinae, Coptotermitinae, Heterotermitinae, and Apicotermitinae) and three families (Termitidae, Rhinotermitidae, and Kalotermitidae). Eremotermes was previously only represented by paradoxalis in Haryana (Krishna et al. 2013; Poonia 2019), and we now include neoparadoxalis. This species is mostly found in dry zones (Roonwal & Bose 1978). For the species identification mean and standard deviation were calculated on five individuals of both castes (soldier and worker). Species of the genus Eremotermes generally look alike; consequently, differences among species are noticed by different sizes of antennal segments of 3 rd , 4 th , and 5 th in worker castes (Chhotani 1997).

Keys for genus and species of Eremotermes
Genus: Eremotermes Silvestri (Head with short projected front protuberance. Mandibles thin, long, and somewhat incurved apically) (Image 2) Species: 1(2) Mandibles comparative to head longer, index mandible-Iength/head-length 1. This species is a small-sized termite. Body length is ranged in between 3.5-4.1 in soldier caste and 3.4-3.8 in worker caste (Table 1). Diagnostic features, measurements, distribution and remarks of the soldier and worker castes of E. neoparadoxalis (Image 2) were described as follows:

Diagnostic features:
Soldier caste: Head capsule is light yellow, rectangular to oval-shaped. Body is yellowish-white and mandibles are reddish-brown. Mandibles are sabreshaped, less incurved, pointed and strongly incurved outer marginally. There is a minute tooth present little behind the middle on both the mandibles. Pronotum is saddle-shaped where labrum is smaller and pointed in shape (Image 2).
Worker Caste: Head capsule is straw-colored and sub-square shaped whereas body is paler. Mandibles are similar as imago caste (Image 2). Pronotum is saddleshaped; its anterior margin weakly or generally not notched and posterior margin straight.

Range Mean±SD Range Mean±SD
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