Spiralitermes jurupari Almeida-Azevedo, Rocha, Morais & Azevedo, 2026 尤鲁帕里螺旋白蚁

Morphology

The description below is paraphrased from the original or a later revision, by caste; the source is cited at the end.

Diagnostic characters

Without soldiers (soldierless). Worker: first proctodaeal segment (P1) extremely long, coiled into a spiral at the end of the abdomen, completing a full turn along the body axis before joining the third proctodaeal segment (P3) on the right side (ventral view); enteric valve seating unlobed, funnel-shaped; enteric valve without spines, but the proximal central region of each of the six symmetrical valves bears a spine directed towards P1 — this ‘spines directed towards P1’ feature distinguishes it from Mangolditermes and Tucupitermes, which likewise have spineless enteric valves.

Worker

External morphology: head capsule pale yellow, with scattered, sparse short hairs; fontanelle conspicuous, oval, white; postclypeus slightly inflated, with only a few short hairs; labrum convex, its hairs coarser than those of the head capsule; antennae 13-segmented (segment 1 > segment 2, segment 3 shorter than the remaining segments). Left mandible with the apical tooth slightly shorter than M1+2, a deep incision between M1+2 and M3 typical of the Neotropical soldierless subfamily, M3 tooth inconspicuous, molar prominence completely concealed by the molar swelling, its process length equal to M1+2; right mandible with the apical tooth longer than M1, an open angle between M1 and M2, M2 tooth triangular, molar plate concave and without grinding ridges. Thorax pale yellow, the margins of the pro-, meso- and metanotum each with a row of long hairs; tibiae and femora slender, of uniform width; anterior surface of the fore coxa with extremely fine, long hairs. Abdomen semi-transparent, each tergite and sternite densely covered with short hairs mostly directed posteriorly. Digestive tract: crop inflated, about 1/4 of the abdominal length; gizzard vestigial; proventricular valve subterminal; midgut uniform, slightly wider in diameter than P1; midgut tongue long, about 1/3 of the midgut length; P1 extremely long, visible on all four surfaces, forming a distinct S shape in left lateral view and a complete loop ventrally, joining P3 at a distinct enteric valve seating (unlobed, funnel-shaped); enteric valve without spines, with six symmetrical valves, the proximal central region of each valve bearing a spine directed towards P1, the spines becoming smaller the further they lie from the valve apex; P3 spherical in ventral view, connected to P4 by a distinct isthmus and forming an inverted U-shaped dorsal loop; P4 smaller in diameter than the midgut, making a short U-shaped turn. Measurements (worker, mm, n=30, means in parentheses): head width 0.68–0.90 (0.80), head length 0.75–0.85 (0.83), hind tibia length 0.73–0.85 (0.78), pronotum width 0.43–0.48 (0.46), fore tibia width/length ratio 0.24–0.36 (0.30).

This genus is monotypic, containing only this species; the following is the genus-level description based on the original literature; species-level measurements and intraspecific variation are given in the original.