Genus Ateuchotermes · 无锐白蚁属

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

The worker enteric valve is the most complex in the whole group and also the most easily recognised: the first cushion is elongated and hooks out through the valve opening into the valve seat, its spines touching the wall of the seat, and in one species a sclerotised cup is formed on the seat to receive it. The abdomen is distinctly dehiscent in all species, and Sands suggested that the easily ruptured gut may be an adjunct of the defensive mechanism of abdominal dehiscence.

Worker

Medium-sized to very large, W 0.75–1.10 mm. Fore tibia scarcely inflated or slender, Ti/Tw 4.72–5.90, with 3 apical spurs, the third small or reduced, at most about 1/3 of the other two. Apical tooth of the mandible short to moderately long, La/Li 0.45–0.74, Ra/Ri 0.59–1.01; the proximal end of the subsidiary tooth of the left mandible is level with the edge of the molar prominence (in one species only) or distinctly clear of it; the marginal teeth of the right mandible are almost in line, or the first marginal tooth is distinctly set back, its anterior margin equalling or distinctly shorter than that of the second. Midgut and hindgut are obliquely joined or slightly longer, lying to the right of the Malpighian knot. Enteric valve seat rather large, weakly bilobed, sessile or joined by a short neck to the second hindgut pouch; in the undissected abdomen it lies dorsally to dorsal-most. Enteric valve cushions all sclerotised and projecting through the valve opening; the first is enlarged, elongated, swollen posteriorly and curved out through the valve opening into the enteric valve seat, its spines being numerous long spines arranged in one to several comb-like or rake-like rows around the margin; the spines of the second, third and fourth are longer and slender, sometimes hooked at the tip and forked, fewer in number than those of the first, and situated at the posterior end of each cushion; the rest of each cushion sometimes bears small spines, or no other spines.

Alate

Medium-sized to large, W 0.90–1.30 mm. Fore tibia with 3 apical spurs, the third well developed, 1/3 of the other two or longer, reduced in one species only. Apical tooth of the mandible short or rather short, La/Li 0.30–0.66, Ra/Ri 0.66–1.01; the proximal end of the subsidiary tooth of the left mandible is just to far clear of the molar prominence; the tips of the apical and marginal teeth of the right mandible are in line, or the first marginal tooth is slightly set back, its anterior margin equalling or longer than that of the second. Meso- and metanotal plates rather narrow to distinctly wide at the constriction, M/W 0.26–0.34; the transverse suture is weak or absent on the mesonotum in most species (distinct in one only), and present or absent on the metanotum.

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. 158–160 This text is an adaptation, not a verbatim transcription of the original.