THE DISTRIBUTION OF SCHEDORHINOTERMES LAMANIANUS (ISOPTERA, RHINOTERMITIDAE) AND ITS TERMITOPHILE PARACLYSTIS (LEPIDOPTERA, TINEIDAE) IN KENYA - ITS IMPORTANCE FOR UNDERSTANDING EAST-AFRICAN BIOGEOGRAPHY

In Kenya humid lowland forests occur in the Lake Basin at the edge of the Guineo-Congolian forest block and along the coast with an extended arid belt in between. From distributional records of the forest termi te Schedorhinotermes lamanianus (Sjostedt) we suggest that, during hum id periods in the past extensive forests existed along rivers, which m ay have allowed forest species to cross the arid gap along the easterl y drainages. Termitophile tineids of the genus Paraclystis live exclus ively within nests of S. lamanianus. We found II divisus in the Lake B asin. However, despite intensive sampling in the Coastal Province, we only recorded P. integer in all investigated colonies. This suggests t hat the faunal crossroads along rivers were not open to all species du ring wetter periods in the past.