Genus Niuginitermes · 新几内亚白蚁属
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Distribution map
GBIF has no georeferenced records for this genus, so this page has no genus-level map; see the family map for Termitidae or the subfamily map for Nasutitermitinae.
About the genus
This genus belongs to the family Termitidae 白蚁科, in the subfamily Nasutitermitinae 象白蚁亚科; the site records 2 species.
Type species: Niuginitermes variratae.
GBIF has no georeferenced records for this genus, so this page has no map; open a species entry to see its type locality and references.
Etymology
From Niugini (New Guinea) + termes.
The etymologies in this section are analytical breakdowns; the roots follow Brown (1956).
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
A genus endemic to New Guinea, containing 2 species. Soldier a small to medium-sized nasute termite resembling Nasutitermes, but with the head capsule not constricted behind the antennae, antennae 12-segmented and mandibles bearing a point; alate antennae 14-segmented, the only constant difference from New Guinean Nasutitermes; worker dimorphic, the gut pattern of diagnostic value.
Alate
Small to medium-sized, antennae 14-segmented; compared with the alates of New Guinean Nasutitermes, the number of antennal segments (14) appears to be the only constant diagnostic character.
Soldier
A small to medium-sized nasute termite closely related to Nasutitermes; monomorphic; head capsule not constricted behind the antennae; antennae 12-segmented; mandibles bearing a point; both included species are orange.
Worker
Dimorphic; the body colour of the major worker changes with age; antennae 13-segmented; mandibles very similar to those of Nasutitermes, the left mandible index 0.38–0.53. The gut pattern is diagnostic: the mixed segment is long, and the mesenteric projection lies on the outer side of the gut loop, connected to the rest of the midgut by a broad dorsal stalk; the Malpighian tubules form two pairs, widely separated; the colon is long, passing backwards from the top of the paunch and then forming a three-dimensional S shape through two 180° bends, first forwards and then downwards, followed by a nearly straight section running to the rectum; the enteric valve is oblique and nearly symmetrical, the spinose regions of its upper and lower rings widely separated; the upper ring with 6 regions bearing many small spines; the lower ring with 3 swellings, the spines becoming smaller towards the paunch; the enteric valve armature does not project into the paunch.
Sources: Roisin, Y.; Pasteels, J. M. 1996. The nasute termites (Isoptera: Nasutitermitinae) of Papua New Guinea. Invertebrate Taxonomy 10: 507–616., Genus Niuginitermes gen. nov. 节 This text is an adaptation, not a verbatim transcription of the original.
Species (2)
Parent level: Checklist index · Nasutitermitinae 象白蚁亚科 · Data & downloads