Family Serritermitidae · 齿白蚁科
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Distribution map
About the family
The family Serritermitidae was established by Holmgren in 1910 (Serritermitidae Holmgren, 1910) (14), with the type genus Serritermes Wasmann, 1897. The family name is derived from the type genus name, formed by combining the Latin serra (saw) with termes, referring to the conspicuously saw-like, many-toothed margins of the mandibles in the soldiers and reproductives of this family. This checklist records 2 genera and 3 species.
This family is a small family endemic to the Neotropical realm, occurring from northern South America (the Guiana Shield) to Brazil. It lacks a true worker caste. The two genera differ markedly in their way of life: Glossotermes is a wood-dwelling termite that lives inside dry, decaying fallen logs, whereas S. serrifer is a rare obligate inquiline among termites, spending its entire life within the epigeal mound nests of the termitid Cornitermes cumulans without building a nest of its own; its soldiers have sickle-shaped mandibles with serrate inner margins. In this family the soldier head is elongate with arcuate lateral margins, and bears a small, blind-ended fontanelle at the front of the head that does not communicate with the frontal gland; the antennae have 12–15 articles (12–13 in Serritermes, 13–15 in Glossotermes). The frontal gland of the soldier is extremely well developed, extending from the head into the anterior half of the thorax and abdomen; when defending, it releases the secretion through the back of the neck by self-rupture (autothysis) (26).
This section is the standing account the site maintains for this rank and is updated on this page as the classification is revised; the checklist index is in the Checklist.
Literature notes
Edited notes based on the original literature, not transcriptions. The source markers in each paragraph point to archived records in .sources; full citations are listed below.
Gut flagellates and cross-family transfer
According to the abstract of Radek et al.'s (2017) study of the gut flagellates of the two Serritermitidae species, Glossotermes oculatus and Serritermes serrifer share similar parabasal morphotypes — a large Pseudotrichonympha-like form, a medium-sized Leptospironympha-like form with a spiral flagellar band, and a small Hexamastix-like form — and no oxymonadids were detected in either; SSU rRNA sequences place the two large trichonymphids as a deep-branching sister group of Teranymphidae, and only the Hexamastix-like form is closely related to trichomonadids of Rhinotermitidae.
According to the abstract, the authors concluded that Serritermitidae harbour two deep-branching trichonymphid lineages but lack all the characteristic groups of ancestral rhinotermitids; the gut flagellate assemblages of lower termites are shaped not only by progressive loss through vertical inheritance but also by occasional cross-family horizontal transfer (transfaunation), and they erected the new genus Heliconympha (type species Heliconympha glossotermitis) for the new flagellate.
References
Genera (2)
- Glossotermes 舌白蚁属 2 species
- Serritermes 齿白蚁属 1 species
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