Shelia6340: Started New Pg - done

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Started New Pg - done

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{{Short description|Extinct genus of termites}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range= {{Fossilrange|52|Miocene|[[Ypresian]] - [[Miocene]]}}
| image =ZooKeys-148-105-g001 Parastylotermes krishnai.jpg
| image_caption = ''P. krishnai'' holotype
| taxon = Parastylotermes
| authority = [[species:Thomas Elliott Snyder|Snyder]] and [[Alfred E. Emerson|Emerson]], 1949
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
*see text
}}

'''''Parastylotermes''''' is an [[extinct]] [[genus]] of [[termite]] in the [[Isoptera]] family [[Stylotermitidae]] known from North America, Europe, and India. The genus contains five described species, '''''Parastylotermes calico''''', '''''Parastylotermes frazieri''''', '''''Parastylotermes krishnai''''', '''''Parastylotermes robustus''''', and '''''Parastylotermes washingtonensis'''''.<ref name="Engel2011">{{Cite journal |last1=Engel |first1=M.S. |last2=Grimaldi |first2=D.A. |last3=Nascimbene |first3=P.C. |last4=Singh |first4=H. |year=2011 |title=The termites of Early Eocene Cambay amber, with the earliest record of the Termitidae (Isoptera) |journal= ZooKeys |volume=148 |pages = 105–123 |doi= 10.3897/zookeys.148.1797 |pmid=22287892 |pmc=3264413|doi-access=free |bibcode=2011ZooK..148..105E }}</ref>

==History and classification==
''Parastylotermes'' was first described by [[entomologist]]s [[species:Thomas Elliott Snyder|Thomas E. Snyder]] and [[Alfred E. Emerson]] in the 1949 paper ''Catalog of the termites (Isoptera) of the world''. Prior to 1949, both ''P. washingtonensis'' and ''P. robustus'' were placed in separate modern species. Snyder and Emerson placed ''Parastylotermes'' in Stylotermitidae, which at that time was considered a subfamily, Stylotermitinae, of the family [[Rhinotermitidae]].<ref name="Snyder1949">{{Cite journal |last1=Snyder |first1=T.E. |year=1949 |title=Catalog of the termites (Isoptera) of the world |journal= Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections |volume=112 |page =366 |url= https://archive.org/details/smithsonianmisce1121949smit}}</ref>

==Species==

===''P. robustus''===
''P. robustus'' was the first species to be described, having been published by Baron Kurt von Rosen as ''Leucotermes robustus'' in 1913. Fossils of the species were recovered from the Middle Eocene, [[Lutetian]], "Blue Earth" [[Baltic amber]] deposits, with three [[imago]]s and four isolated wings known. Of the five known specimens, the original type series of fossils that von Rosen used in describing the species were held in the [[Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie]] collections and are thought destroyed during [[World War II]]. Von Rosen noted in his type description of the species that he was uncertain of its genus placement. Since then the species has been moved several first to ''Leucotermes (Reticulitermes) robustus'', then to ''Reticulitermes robustus'' when ''[[Reticulitermes]]'' was changed from a subgenus to a full genus. Finally the species was transferred to ''Parastylotermes'' by Snyder and Emerson in 1949. ''P. robustus'' and ''P. krishnai'' are the only two species which are known from more than isolated wings.<ref name="Engel2011"/> ''P. robustus'' can be distinguished from ''P. washingtonensis'' by is age and its shorter, wider, wings which are estimated to be {{convert|9.40|by|3.17|mm|in}}.<ref name="Emerson1971">{{Cite journal |last1=Emerson |first1=A.E. |year=1971 |title=Tertiary fossil species of the Rhinotermitidae (Isoptera), phylogeny of genera, and reciprocal phylogeny of associated Flagellata (Protozoa) and the Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) |journal= Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=146 |issue=3 |pages =243–304 |hdl=2246/1093 |url= http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/1093}}</ref>

===''P. washingtonensis''===
''P. washingtonensis'', described by Snyder in 1931 as ''Stylotermes washingtonensis'', is the [[type species]] for ''Parastylotermes''. The species, like ''P. frazieri'' and ''P. calico'', is known from a single isolated wing. The front right fore-wing was found in sediments of the [[Latah Formation]] near [[Spokane, Washington]]. The formation is dated to the Upper Miocene placing as similar in age to both other western North American species, both being middle Miocene in age. The specimen is housed as specimen ''MCZ 2943 ab'' in the [[Museum of Comparative Zoology]] on the [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] grounds on [[Harvard University]]. At an estimated {{convert|10.72|mm|in}} length from the costal suture to the tip and a full {{convert|11.5|mm|in}}, is one of the largest species of ''Parastylotermes'', with ''P. calico'' estimated to have been slightly larger. The structuring of the median and cubitus veins are cited as the major differences between ''P. washingtonensis'' and ''P. calico''.<ref name="Emerson1971"/>

===''P. frazieri''===
''P. frazieri'' was the third species of ''Parastylotermes'' to be described and is known from a single wing collected in 1954 by T. H. McCulloh of the [[United States Geological Survey]] and deposited into the [[Smithsonian Institution]] as specimen number 62383. The wing was recovered from an {{convert|80|by|70|mm|in}} [[calcium carbonate]] nodule recovered from the Frazier borax mine in Ventura county California. When Thomas Snyder described the specimen in 1955 he was uncertain whether the wing was in fact a fore-wing. The wing is {{convert|10|mm|in}} long and {{convert|3.0|mm|in}} wide and differs from ''P. washingtonensis'' in the placement of the median vein, which is farther from the cubitus vein in ''P. frazieri'' then in ''P. washingtonensis''.<ref name="Snyder1955">{{Cite journal |last1=Snyder |first1=T.E. |year=1955 |title=A new fossil termite, ''Parastylotermes frazieri'', from California (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae) |journal=Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=79–80 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/55394 }}</ref> In the time after the species description and reexamination of the type specimen by Emerson in 1971 the tip half of fossil has been lost, with only the basal half surviving.<ref name="Emerson1971"/>

===''P. calico''===
''P. calico'' was the last North American species of ''Parastylotermes '' to be described, with William D. Pierce publishing the species description in 1958. The isolated wing fragment, ''LACM 533'', from which the species was described was found in 1957 by Wilma Webster in the [[Calico Mountains (California)|Calico Mountains]], [[San Bernardino County, California]]. The nodule on which the fossil is preserved is housed in the [[Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County|L.A. County Museum]]. Due to the incomplete nature of the wing, being only the basal {{convert|7.8|mm|in}} of the wing, it can not be determined if it was a fore or hind-wing though the apparent lack of an anal vein suggests that it may be a fore-wing. While agreeing with Pierce that the description of the wing as a separate species, Emerson noted that there were few features distinguishing ''P. calico'' from ''P. washingtonensis''.<ref name="Emerson1971"/><ref name="Pierce1958">{{Cite journal |last1=Pierce |first1=W.D. |year=1958 |title=Fossil arthropods of California. No. 21. Termites from Calico Mountains nodules |journal=Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=13–24 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34214120#page/431/mode/1up }}</ref>

===''P. krishnai''===
[[File:ZooKeys-148-105-g003 Parastylotermes krishnai.jpg|thumb|right|upright|''P. krishnai'' wing and leg detail]]
''P. krishnai'' is known from two adults, which are [[Inclusion (mineral)|inclusions]] in amber, making it the second species known from amber inclusions. The [[holotype]] amber specimen, number ''Tad-277'', is currently housed in the fossil collection of the [[Birbal Sahni]] Institute of Palaeobotany in [[Lucknow]], India and the second known adult, ''Tad-96'' is in the collections of the [[American Museum of Natural History]]. The holotype is composed of a mostly complete adult of indeterminate sex, whereas ''Tad-96'' is a crushed adult, though enough features are present to strongly indicate its placement in ''P. krishnai''. Cambay amber dates to between fifty and fifty-two million years old, placing it in the Early to Mid Ypresian age of the Eocene, and was preserved in a [[brackish]] shore environment. The amber formed from a [[Dammar gum|dammar type resin]] which is produced mainly by trees in the family [[Dipterocarpaceae]].<ref name="Rust2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Rust |first1=J. |year=2010 |title=Biogeographic and evolutionary implications of a diverse paleobiota in amber from the early Eocene of India |journal= Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=107 |issue=43 |pages=18360–18365 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1007407107|display-authors=etal |pmid=20974929 |pmc=2972964|bibcode=2010PNAS..10718360R |doi-access=free }}</ref> The specimens were recovered from the Tadkeshwar lignite mine, located in [[Gujarat State]], during collecting trips in January 2009 and 2010.<ref name="Engel2011"/> The fossils were first studied by paleoentomologists [[Michael S. Engel]] and [[David Grimaldi (entomologist)|David Grimaldi]].and their 2011 [[Type (biology)|type description]] of the species was published in the journal ''[[ZooKeys]]''.<ref name="Engel2011"/> The [[specific name (zoology)|specific epithet]] ''krishnai'' is in honor of Kumar Krishna, considered a world authority on fossil and living termites.<ref name="Engel2011"/> The species has a body length of approximately {{convert|4.0|mm|in}} and a fore-wing length of {{convert|5.7|mm|in}} making it the smallest species known. ''P. krishnai'' also shows a distinct more basal placement of the Medial vein fork then seen in the other species with the wing tip preserved. A notable distinction between ''P. robustus'' and ''P. krishnai'' is difference in numbers of [[Antenna (biology)|antenna segments]]. ''P. robustus'' has between sixteen and seventeen segments while ''P. krishnai'' has only fourteen.<ref name="Engel2011"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q7136046}}

[[Category:Termite genera]]
[[Category:Prehistoric insect genera]]
[[Category:Eocene insects]]
[[Category:Miocene insects]]
[[Category:Cenozoic insects of Asia]]
[[Category:Prehistoric insects of North America]]
[[Category:Cenozoic insects of Europe]]
[[Category:Latah Formation]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1913]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1931]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1949]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1954]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1959]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 2011]]

Parastylotermes - Revision history

Shelia6340: Started New Pg - done