Genus Astalotermes · 无利器白蚁属

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

Sands regarded it as a large transitional genus between the primitive and the specialised groups; the generic characters vary very widely, and the alate overlaps several genera, so the limits of the genus rest in part on the gut. In the worker the overlap of midgut and hindgut is short, which distinguishes it from Adaiphrotermes, Anenteotermes and Aderitotermes; the enteric valve cushions are without spines and bear scales on the surface.

Worker

Small to large, W 0.58–1.08 mm. Fore tibia slender to moderately inflated, Ti/Tw 3.86–5.96, with 3 apical spurs, the third usually distinct, sometimes reduced. Apical tooth of the mandible short to rather long, La/Li 0.43–0.86, Ra/Ri 0.57–1.08; the proximal end of the subsidiary tooth of the left mandible is just to distinctly clear of the molar prominence; the marginal teeth of the right mandible are in line, or the first marginal tooth is set back, its anterior margin being longer than, equal to or shorter than that of the second. The junction of midgut and hindgut ranges from almost transverse to an overlap of about twice the width of the midgut, the proximal end of the hindgut reaching the Malpighian knot. Enteric valve seat variable: weakly lobed and sessile, to distinctly bilobed or trilobed and joined by a distinct neck; in the undissected abdomen it lies ventrally to dorsally. Enteric valve cushions without spines, bearing scales on the surface.

Alate

Small to large, W 0.69–1.33 mm. Fore tibia with 3 apical spurs, the third usually only slightly smaller than the other two, sometimes reduced. Apical tooth of the mandible short to rather long, La/Li 0.41–0.79, Ra/Ri 0.55–1.05; the proximal end of the subsidiary tooth of the left mandible is just to distinctly clear of the molar prominence; the marginal teeth of the right mandible are in line, or the first marginal tooth is set back; the anterior margin of the first marginal tooth may be longer than, equal to or shorter than that of the second. Meso- and metanotal plates narrow to wide at the constriction, M/W 0.20–0.36; mesonotal and metanotal sutures present to 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. 51–54 This text is an adaptation, not a verbatim transcription of the original.