Timothy G. Myles

First Record of Reticulitermes flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) from Terceira Island (Azores, Portugal)

Reticuliterm.es Holmgren is a Holarctic genus of subterranean termites indigenous to North America, the Mediterranean and Black Sea re gions, and eastern Asia (Emerson 1971). It is unequivocally the most important economic ter mite genus to North America. Although Reticuli termes spp. constitute the dominant complex of subterranean termite pests of structures in most of these areas (Edwards & Mill 1986), records of emigrations to non-indigenous locations are remarkably less common compared to pest spe cies of Coptotermes Wasmann and Cryptoterm.es Banks (Gay 1967). The involvement of military operations as a progenitor for anthropogenic sourcing of exotic insect establishments is well known. For example, the Formosan subterra nean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, was brought to the continental USA after World War II via military retrograde from the Pacific Theater (La Fage 1987), and associated with military ports receiving and storing equipment (Spink 1967; Scott & Scott 1996; Austin 2006). Another important subterranean species, Retic ulitermes flavipes (Kollar), has been identified in several areas throughout the world (Austin et. al. 2005a, 2005b; Su et al. 2006), where introduc tions to both hemispheres have been reported. Due to its establishment capability, R. flavipes occupies the largest geographic distribution of any subterranean termite within the genus. Establishment and subsequent spread of R. fla vipes throughout the Palearctic—recently con firmed by its establishment in northern Italy— also implicates human aided dispersal (Ghesini et al. 2010; Ghesini et al. 2011) from areas where earlier introductions are known (e.g., southwest ern France and northern Germany). We herein report the discovery of established R. flavipes populations on Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal (Fig. 1A, IB). The sample was subjected to mtDNA testing according to meth ods outlined in Austin et al. (2005a), and the GenBank submission is available as accession number DQ001964. The samples were provided as part of an ongoing survey of the phylogeog raphy of Reticulitermes throughout the world. Samples were procured by PAVB and TGM near the Lajes Air Force Base (38.75413-27.06872) (see Fig. 1C). The samples were vouchered in RHSs collection at the University of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Cen

Cryptotermes brevis (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) in the Azores: Lessons After 2 yr of Monitoring in the Archipelago

ABSTRACT. The dispersal flights of West Indian drywood termite, Cryptotermes brevis (Walker) (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) were surveyed in the major cities of Azores. The sampling device used to estimate termite density consisted of a yellow adhesive trap (size 45 by 24 cm), placed with an artificial or natural light source in a dark attic environment. In addition, data from two other projects were used to improve the knowledge about the geographical distribution of the species. The level of infestation in the two main Azorean towns differed, with high levels in the houses of Angra do Heroísmo, whereas in Ponta Delgada, there are fewer houses with high levels of infestation. The infestation in Ponta Delgada shows a pattern of spreading from the center outward to the citys periphery, whereas in Angra do Heroísmo, there was a pattern of spreading outward from several foci. The heavy infestation observed in Angra do Heroísmo and the clear increase of infestation levels observed from 2010 to 2011 is a reason for concern and calls for an urgent application of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) control strategy.

AMITERMES AMICKI, A NEW SUBTERRANEAN TERMITE (ISOPTERA : TERMITIDAE : TERMITINAE) FROM ARUBA

Amitermes amicki n. sp. is described from soldiers collected on Aruba. For comparison, the soldier of A. beaumonti is redescribed from specimens collected in Mexico, Belize, and Cuba. Amitermes amicki is the eighth congener thus far described from the Neotropical Region. A technique is reported to enhance the visual clarity of digitized scanning electron micrographs.