First record of a subterranean termite, Coptotermes havilandi Holmgren (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), on the West coast of North America (México)

Abstract

The subterranean termite, Coptotermes havilandi Holmgren, is reported from a previously undocumented sitelocated in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico. This is the first record of that exotic species on the West Coast of NorthAmerica. Termites were found inhabiting and damaging pine logs in a fiscal warehouse at Manzanillo harbor. Theirproximity to the harbor, in addition to the lack of any other infestations in the surroundings, suggests that they wereprobably introduced as a result of maritime trade. New distribution records are also reported in Mexico City(Mexico) and the State of Pará (Brazil). This study shows that that species continues being introduced in manycountries despite the efforts of harbor quarantines.

Termites (Blattodea: Isoptera) of Canada, continental USA, and Mexico: an identification key to families and genera, checklist of species, and new records for Mexico

“…On the other hand, Microcerotermes strunckii (Sörense, 1884) is eliminated from the listing of Mexican species, due to its only mention for Mexico being from a catalogue (Constantino, 1998). The species Coptotermes crassus Snyder, 1922, Coptotermes havilandi Holmgren, 1911, Incisitermes perparvus Light, 1933, Nasutitermes costalis (Holmgren, 1910, Incisitermes nigritus (Snyder, 1946) and Termes melindae Harris, 1960, also mentioned as part of the Mexican termite fauna (Cancello & Myles, 2000;Ferraz & Méndez-Montiel, 2004;Méndez-Montiel & Equihua-Martínez, 2001), are eliminated, because at present they are considered synonyms of Coptotermes testaceus (Scheffrahn et al, 2015), Coptotermes gestroi (Maiti, 2006), Incisitermes seeversi (Krishna et al, 2013b),…”