Genus Parrhinotermes · 棒鼻白蚁属

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 Parrhinotermes, reorganised and rewritten); the source keys and measurement tables are not reproduced here.

Morphology

Key characters

Soldier head oval and flattened, fontanelle small, frontal gland well developed, labrum elongated and club-shaped; mandibles long and sabre-like, the base of the inner margin densely set with eighteen to twenty-one small serrations; antennae with thirteen segments, pronotum narrower than the head.

Soldier

Soldier head oval, rather flat, fontanelle pore small, frontal gland well developed. Labrum elongated, club-shaped. Mandibles long, sabre-shaped, the base of the inner margin densely set with eighteen to twenty-one small serrations. Postmentum small and flat. Antennae with thirteen segments. Pronotum flat, narrower than the head capsule.

Biology and economic significance

Parrhinotermes is a small genus of Isoptera, at present comprising seven species together with the Chinese ones. Its species live in evergreen broad-leaved forest, mostly in tropical and marginally tropical areas; affected by the uplift of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, the Chinese species reach as far north as the southern Hengduan Mountains.

Distribution

Oriental Region; in China recorded from the Medog area of Tibet, abroad from Assam in India and elsewhere.

Summary

Parrhinotermes soldiers have a flat oval head with a small fontanelle and a well-developed frontal gland, an elongate club-shaped labrum, and long sabre-like mandibles whose inner basal margins carry eighteen to twenty-one fine serrations. The postmentum is small and flat, antennae have thirteen segments, and the pronotum is flat and narrower than the head. The genus is small, with seven species including those of China, all inhabiting tropical or marginally tropical evergreen broad-leaved forest.

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.