Family Hodotermopsidae · 原白蚁科

Fauna Sinica account

The account below is a reorganized and rewritten adaptation of the family-level description in Fauna Sinica, Insecta Vol. 17, Isoptera (2000) (original work, section on the family Hodotermitidae); the source keys and measurement tables are not reproduced here.

Morphology

Key characters

The grass termites recorded in the book belong to one of the more primitive branches of the Isoptera. No caste has a fontanelle; the pronotum is flat and narrower than the head; the first tarsomere of the hind leg is cleft only on its ventral surface and remains a single segment dorsally, so that the tarsus appears five-segmented in ventral view but only four-segmented in dorsal view; the cerci consist of four to eight segments; the alate lacks ocelli and has antennae of fifteen to twenty-seven segments; the soldier's tibiae bear two to four apical spurs. The transformed caste (the soldier) approaches the primitive type in head shape, mandibular teeth and the number of antennal and cercal segments; caste differentiation is not pronounced, and many ancestral characters are retained.

Soldier

The soldier of the single genus recorded for China has a broad, flattened, nearly circular head capsule, with the posterior and lateral margins both rounded; the antennae are many-segmented, up to twenty-four segments; the compound eyes are distinct; the mandibles are robust and strongly curved, with very well developed mandibular teeth, the left mandible bearing four marginal teeth and the right three. The pronotum is flat and slightly narrower than the head; the hind tibia bears two lateral spurs in addition to four apical spurs, whereas the fore and mid tibiae have no lateral spurs; the cerci have four to six segments.

Biology and economic significance

This group inhabits moist forests, boring into damp logs, fallen timber and stumps, and also damages living trees and the timber of cottages and old buildings; hence the name dampwood termites. Primary and secondary forests suffer especially heavily. Their galleries have no connection with the soil, and they live a concealed, wood-dwelling life.

Distribution

The book records only one genus and one species as extant in China, found in subtropical montane and hilly forests; the precise localities and hosts are given on the species page for this genus.

Summary

In the 2000 account, Chinese members of this group are small, wood-dwelling termites retaining many ancestral features. Every caste lacks a fontanelle, the pronotum is flat and narrower than the head, the first hind tarsal segment is cleft only below (five segments seen from beneath, four from above), and cerci comprise four to eight segments. Alates have no ocelli and 15 to 27 antennal segments; soldiers bear two to four tibial spurs. Colonies live in damp timber and are known as dampwood termites.

Taxonomic note: The original work follows the system of Snyder and Emerson, placing the subfamily Termopsinae within the family Hodotermitidae (noting that the subfamily had been proposed for elevation to the family Termopsidae). This subfamily was later generally raised to the separate family Hodotermopsidae; this site follows the current system, so what is presented on this page is in fact the part of the original work's Hodotermitidae that concerns the Chinese species.

Sources cited: Huang Fusheng, Zhu Shimo, Ping Zhengming, Wang Zhiguo, Li Can and Xu Chungui, 2000. Fauna Sinica, Insecta Vol. 17, Isoptera. Beijing: Science Press. This text is a reorganized adaptation, not a verbatim transcription.