Genus Adaiphrotermes · 和白蚁属

Morphology

The descriptions below are an adaptation of the original genus-level accounts; terms follow the meaning of the source, and the original is not transcribed verbatim.

Diagnostic characters

Fore tibia with only 2 apical spurs; no other African genus lacks the third apical spur entirely, so this genus is the most easily recognised. The worker gut has a white midgut “ball”, recognisable even without opening the abdomen; the worker abdomen does not rupture. Aderitotermes and Anenteotermes also have a long mixed segment, but the midgut is not inflated distally in those two.

Worker

Small to medium-sized, W 0.59–0.75 mm. Fore tibia with only 2 apical spurs, hairy, with prominent setae on the posterior margin, inflated, Ti/Tw 3.00–4.00. Mandibular apical teeth short, La/Li 0.46–0.64, Ra/Ri 0.65–1.10; left mandible accessory marginal tooth clearly clear of the molar prominence proximally; right mandible apical and marginal teeth about equal in length and their apices in a line. Midgut and hindgut overlap to form an elongated mixed segment extending past the Malpighian tubule knot, the midgut distally inflated into a spherical or hemispherical form. First hindgut segment long and inflated, abruptly constricted into a narrow tubular enteric valve; enteric valve seat with 2 or 3 lobes, or a simple rim, sessile or with a short neck, dorsally situated in the unopened abdomen; enteric valve inner cushion without spines, reticulate or weakly scaly, mostly concentrated proximally.

Alate

Small to medium-sized, W 0.71–1.01 mm. Fore tibia with only 2 apical spurs. Mandibular apical teeth short, La/Li 0.43–0.57, Ra/Ri 0.66–0.93; left mandible accessory marginal tooth clearly clear of the molar prominence proximally; right mandible 1st and 2nd marginal teeth about equal in length and in a line with the apical tooth. Meso- and metanotal plates narrow at the constriction, M/W 0.16–0.23; mesonotal suture absent, metanotal suture weak or absent.

Sources: Sands W. A. 1972. The soldierless termites of Africa (Isoptera: Termitidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Entomology Supplement 18: 1–244. doi 10.5962/p.192782., pp. 229–231 This text is an adaptation, not a verbatim transcription of the original.