Location of origin: French Guyana, near the Petit Saut Dam
Geographic coordinates: 5.062621147486212, -53.04810814690904 (approximate coordinates)
Collectors: Raphael Jeanson
Data curators: Christian Jost, Andrea Perna, Guy Theraulaz
Collection date: 2007
Morphological descriptors: saddle-shaped, minimal surfaces, isotropic structure, 3D
Material descriptors: carton, secreted material
Taxonomic descriptors: Nasutitermes ephrate, Nasutitermes corniger, Nasutitermes arborum, nasute termites, Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae
Geographic descriptors: French Guyana, South America
Alternative ID: Mesomorph project (ANR-06-BYOS-0008) MeMo0051, but this is a new scan by Giulio Facchini
Acknowledgements: Raphael Jeanson collected the nest. Eric Darrouzet performed a genetic analysis to identify the species of termites.
Availability of the original specimen: Half of the nest is in the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Pisa, via Roma 79, Certosa di Calci, Italy
Usage permissions: Freely available for any usage.
Additional information: Source: Raphael Jeanson brought it back from his mission in French Guyana (september 2007)
Origin and biological information: French Guyana, species still needs to be determined exactly. See also Grasse (1984, p.471), resembles N. arborum (p. 469)
General comments: Eric Darrouzet did a genetic analysis, his answer is “On obtient 97% d’homologie avec Nasutitermes ephratae et 96% avec N. corniger. Les sequences de ces deux especes proviennent du Panama et du Costa Rica. Dans les banques de donnees, il n’y a pas de sequences de Guyane. Par contre, il a ete decrit un N. ephratae en Guyane et pas de N. corniger”.
