New Genus of Scuttle Fly (Diptera: Phoridae) from a Termite Nest (Isoptera: Termitidae) in Laos

A single female specimen collected from a termite nest in Laos and preserved in alcohol was initially examined and photographed by SD before being sent to RHLD, who mounted it on a slide in Berlese Fluid (Disney 2001). It proved to be an unknown genus which is described below. The termite host was identified as Macrotermes gilvus (Hagen) with the keys of Ahmad (1965), Chhotani (1997) and Tho (1992) and is not covered by the monograph on Chinese termites (Huang, Li & Zu 1989), which covers more species of this termite genus but does not include this species. The major soldiers are somewhat more robust compared with some specimens from Malaysia attributed to this species (Disney, Neoh & Lee 1999). The termite species, whose type series came from Java, is evidently somewhat variable with the differences being either due to geographical variation, as currently assumed, or possibly this widely distributed species may prove to be a sibling species complex. Voucher specimens from the termite nest are deposited in Copenhagen (queen, soldiers, workers) and Cambridge (soldiers, workers).