Noirotitermes noiroti (Isoptera, Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae): a new genus and new species from northeastern Brazil

We describe a new genus (the fourteenth) and a new species of the exclusive ly Neotropical group of mandibulate nasutes, those Nasutitermitinae genera in which the soldiers possess large mandibles. The material was collected i n Corrente, State of Piaui, Brazil, in cerrado habitat, This new genus is t he smallest of all the mandibulate nasute termites and possesses a number o f autapomorphic character states: slender toothed mandibles, cloverleaf-lik e pronotum, a granular surface texture on the sides of the head and most st rikingly two pairs of hem-like projections on the posterior margin of the s oldier head. We present drawings of the soldier head, soldier mandibles, wo rker digestive tube, worker mandibles, enteric valve, and Malpighian tubule insertion, In addition we discuss the phylogeny of the humivorous mandibul ate nasute termites and show that the new genus is the sister taxon of Macu xitermes.