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The first mastotermitid termite from Africa (Isoptera: Mastotermitidae): a new species of Mastotermes from the early Miocene of Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2016

Michael S. Engel ,
Ellen D. Currano  and
Bonnie F. Jacobs
Michael S. Engel
Affiliation:
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 Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th, New York, New York 10024-5192, USA 〈msengel@ku.edu; mengel@amnh.org〉
Ellen D. Currano
Affiliation:
Department of Geology & Environmental Earth Science, Miami University, 250 S. Patterson Avenue, 102 Shideler Hall, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Avenue, Aven Nelson Room 114, Laramie, Wyoming 82071 〈ecurrano@uwyo.edu〉
Bonnie F. Jacobs
Affiliation:
Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, PO Box 750395, Dallas, Texas 75275-0395, USA 〈bjacobs@smu.edu〉
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Abstract

The first mastotermitid termite from Africa is described and figured from wing fragments recovered from the early Miocene (22–21 Ma) deposits of the Mush Valley, Amhara Region, central Ethiopia. Mastotermes aethiopicus new species is the second fossil termite recorded from Africa and expands the known paleo-distribution of the genus from tropical North America and Europe into northeastern Africa during the Miocene. Mastotermes aethiopicus is distinguished from the living M. darwiniensis Froggatt and other Neogene species of the genus, and comments are provided regarding the occurrence of this genus in the tropical fauna of Miocene Ethiopia.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 89 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 1038 - 1042
Copyright
Copyright © 2016, The Paleontological Society 

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