Genus Odontotermes · 土白蚁属

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) (generic description in the original book's section on Odontotermes, reorganised and rewritten); the source keys and measurement tables are not reproduced here.

Morphology

Key characters

Soldier head oval, longer than wide, the anterior end often narrow; frons flat, fontanelle indistinct; labrum without a transparent tip, long hairs on the two lateral margins; the left mandible with one large pointed tooth; antennae with fifteen to eighteen segments.

Soldier

Soldier head oval, longer than wide, the anterior end often narrowed. Frons flat, fontanelle not very distinct. Labrum without a transparent tip, long hairs on the two lateral margins. Mandibles curved, sabre-shaped, the left mandible with one large pointed tooth. Antennae with fifteen to eighteen segments. Postmentum rectangular, very wide at the middle. Pronotum narrower than the head, saddle-shaped.

Alate

Alate head broadly oval or nearly circular, fontanelle distinct. Postclypeus raised, slightly paler in colour than the vertex, very short, about half as long as wide. Antennae with nineteen segments, the third often shorter than the second. Pronotum often with a pale cruciform marking and spots on the anterior sides, the posterior part of the lateral margins contracted. The posterior margins of the mesonotum and metanotum arcuately concave. Wings transparent to dark brown, radius very short, the media of the forewing arising from the base of the cubitus, the media of the hindwing arising from the radius. The lateral walls of the queen's abdomen covered with small brown dots.

Distribution

Oriental Region; distributed throughout the provinces and autonomous regions of southern China, more numerous in South China and Southwest China.

Summary

Odontotermes soldiers have an oval head longer than wide and narrowed in front, a flat frons with an inconspicuous fontanelle, and a labrum that lacks a transparent tip but bears long hairs along its lateral margins. The sabre-like mandibles carry a single large pointed tooth on the left, antennae have fifteen to eighteen segments, and the pronotum is saddle-shaped and narrower than the head. Alates are broad-headed with nineteen antennal segments and forewings whose media arises from the cubital base.

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.