Genus Globitermes · 球白蚁属

Fauna Sinica account

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

Morphology

Key characters

Soldier with a short, thick, nearly circular head capsule; mandibles slender with hooked apices, each mandible with a sharp tooth at the middle of the inner margin; labrum bluntly rounded anteriorly; antennae at most 15-segmented; alate with very small compound eyes, the media of the forewing arising independently at the humeral suture.

Soldier

Soldier with a short, thick head capsule, nearly circular in outline, yellow in colour. Mandibles slender, the anterior portion curved into a hook, each mandible with a sharp marginal tooth at the middle of the inner margin. Labrum oval, bluntly rounded without a point at the apex. Antennae with no more than 15 segments. Postmentum distinctly raised upwards at the middle. Pronotum narrower than the head, slightly convex anteriorly and at the middle.

Alate

Alate rather small; head capsule thick and slightly convex; compound eyes very small; fontanelle distinct. Postclypeus wider than the frons, its surface rather flat, less than half as long as wide; labrum wider than long; antennae 15–16-segmented. Pronotum more than half as long as wide. Forewing scale slightly longer than the hindwing scale, the wing surface densely covered with fine punctures; the media of the forewing arises independently at the humeral suture, that of the hindwing branches from the radial sector close to the cubitus. Tibial spur formula 3:2:2.

Distribution

Oriental region; a component of tropical and subtropical forests, recorded from southern China.

Summary

In Globitermes the soldier head is short, thick and almost circular, yellow in colour, with slender mandibles hooked at the tip and bearing one sharp marginal tooth on the inner edge of each. The labrum is oval with a blunt apex, antennae do not exceed 15 segments, and the postmentum is strongly raised in the middle. Alates are small, with very small compound eyes, a distinct fontanelle and 15- to 16-segmented antennae. The genus ranges through the Oriental region.

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.