Genus Glossotermes · 舌白蚁属

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 original considers this genus closest to Psammotermes (then placed in the Rhinotermitidae), though the relationship is rather distant; when the genus was established only the soldier was known, the alate being unknown. The soldier is characterised by the combination of a nearly square, slightly flattened head, a distinct eye spot behind each antennal socket, an extremely broad labrum, mandibles only slightly hooked, and a large groove at the base of the left mandible that receives the tooth of the right mandible.

Soldier

Head nearly square and slightly flattened, the sides nearly parallel and slightly convex, reddish brownish yellow; a distinct eye spot behind each antennal socket, smaller than the socket, the ommatidia almost indiscernible; two pale spots above the eye, possibly vestigial ocelli; antennae 13 segments, the terminal segment distinctly narrower than the preceding one, segment 3 about equal to segment 2, segment 4 shorter than segment 3; postclypeus distinct, about 3 times as wide as long; labrum extremely broad, rounded at the sides, with a thin hyaline margin at the apex; mandibles broad at the base, tapering towards the apex and only slightly hooked, with a notch on the outer margin of each at about 2/9 of its length, dividing it into a basal and an apical part; right mandible with a tooth-like process on the inner margin at 1/3 of the length from the base; left mandible finely serrate on the inner margin behind the apex, with a large groove at the base that receives the tooth of the right mandible; pronotum gently arched, distinctly notched at the anterior margin; tibial apical spurs 2:2:2 on all legs. Measurements of the holotype soldier (mm): head length (to the lateral base of the mandibles) 1.56, head height 0.82, head width 1.10, postclypeus length 0.19 and width 0.57, labrum width 0.57, left mandible length 1.09, pronotum width 0.78, hind tibia length 1.09.

Sources: Emerson, A. E. 1950. Five new genera of termites from South America and Madagascar (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae, Termitidae). American Museum Novitates 1444: 1–16., pp. 2–4 This text is an adaptation, not a verbatim transcription of the original.