Genus Pericapritermes · 近扭白蚁属

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) (the genus-level account of Pericapritermes in the original book, reorganised and rewritten); the source keys and measurement tables are not reproduced here.

Morphology

Key characters

Soldier head rectangular with a rather flat dorsal margin, the frons sloping; the apex of the left mandible blunt and not hooked, the inner cutting edge slightly concave at the middle; labrum about as long as wide; antennae 13–16-segmented, tibial spur formula 3:2:2, tarsi 4-segmented.

Soldier

Soldier head rectangular, the lateral margins nearly parallel, the dorsal margin fairly straight. Frons sloping or slightly steep, fontanelle dot-like. The cephalic suture is fairly distinct, extending forwards to before the middle. Mandibles strongly asymmetrical: the apex of the left mandible is blunt or curved inwards, its tip slightly flattened and not hooked, the inner cutting edge slightly concave at the middle; the right mandible is straighter, or its anterior part slightly curved outwards. Labrum about as long as wide, the anterior margin straight, the lateral corners pointed and shortly projecting; postclypeus very narrow. Antennae 13–16-segmented. Pronotum saddle-shaped, narrower than the head. Tibial spur formula 3:2:2, tarsi 4-segmented.

Alate

Alate head broadly oval, slightly narrowed anteriorly; postclypeus slightly convex, less than half as long as wide, with or without a median suture. Antennae 14–15-segmented; fontanelle oval. The inner margin of the apical tooth of the left mandible is as long as or slightly longer than the anterior margin of the first marginal tooth, while its apical distance is shorter than the distance between the first and third marginal teeth; the second marginal tooth of the right mandible is well developed, its posterior curved margin arcuate; the apical distance between the second and first marginal teeth is shorter than that between the first marginal tooth and the apical tooth. The anterior margin of the pronotum is slightly concave at the middle.

Biology and economic significance

The mandibles of these termites are particularly well developed and strongly twisted, enabling the insects to spring by means of them while emitting a clicking sound. Nests are mostly built in the soil and consist of several chambers and passages; they feed on plant rootlets and decaying parts, and can also bore into the surface of living trees and into sugar cane. One species of the genus is recorded as feeding on fungal spores and water in the soil.

Distribution

Oriental region; mainly tropical and subtropical, common in the provinces of south-western and south-eastern coastal China.

Summary

Pericapritermes soldiers have a long rectangular head with nearly parallel sides and a rather flat dorsum; the frons slopes and the fontanelle is punctiform. The mandibles are strongly asymmetric, the left blunt or bent inward with a flat, non-hooked apex, the right straighter. The labrum is about as long as broad, antennae are 13 to 16 segmented, and there are four tarsal segments. Alates have 14- to 15-segmented antennae. The genus is tropical and subtropical in distribution.

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.