Genus Procubitermes · 原方白蚁属

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

Soldier head rectangular, the sides straight and nearly parallel, without sharp gular processes; labrum bifurcate or deeply cleft; each mandible with a small tooth near the base, not evenly curved (the left mandible elbow-shaped, the right evenly curved); antennae 14-segmented. Alate fontanelle slit-like or small and white, antennae 15-segmented, posterior margins of the mesonotum and metanotum with small notches. Similar in many respects to the subgenus Cubitermes.

Soldier

Head rectangular, yellow to red-yellow, the sides straight and nearly parallel; gula without a sharp process. Labrum bifurcate (in niapuensis the tips are at varying distances apart; in undulans deeply cleft, the tips sharper). Each mandible with a small tooth near the base; in niapuensis the mandibles are slightly elbow-shaped rather than evenly curved, in undulans the left mandible has two elbow bends and the right is evenly curved. Antennae 14-segmented (in niapuensis segment 3 longer than segment 2, segment 2 equal to segment 4; in undulans segment 2 equal to segment 3, segment 4 shorter than segment 3). Pronotal anterior margin slightly or faintly concave. Measurements (mm): niapuensis head length with mandibles 3.26, head width 1.37, antennae 2.20, pronotum 0.31×0.70, hind tibia 1.00, left mandible 1.71; undulans head length with mandibles 3.05, head width 1.10, antennae 2.00, pronotum 0.26×0.67, hind tibia 0.89, left mandible 1.57.

Worker

Antennae 14-segmented. niapuensis head width 0.94 mm, hind tibia 1.00 mm; undulans head width 0.86 mm, hind tibia 0.72 mm.

Alate

niapuensis: head mid-dark red-brown, fontanelle slit-like and pale; antennae 15-segmented (segment 3 very small, segment 2 equal to segment 4); eyes medium-sized; ocelli 0.14 mm long, oval, facing sideways, 1.10 mm from the eye; postclypeus slightly paler than the head, with a narrow dark median line; pronotum slightly paler, posterior margin deeply concave; posterior margins of the mesonotum and metanotum with small sharp notches (angle less than a right angle). Measurements (mm): head length 1.22, head width 1.19, antennae 1.78, eye diameter 0.31, pronotum 0.59×1.05, hind tibia 1.16; posterior length 20.00, abdominal width 3.50. undulans: head yellow-brown, oval; fontanelle small and white, with three muscle-attachment scars in front of it; antennal segment 3 about twice segment 2 or segment 4 (showing signs of subdivision); eyes medium-sized, close to the lower margin; ocelli medium-sized, their distance from the eye greater than their width; postclypeus slightly paler, with a faint median line; pronotum slightly paler, posterior margin concave; posterior margins of the mesonotum and metanotum very narrowly concave. Measurements (mm): head length 1.23, head width 1.10, eye diameter 0.38, pronotum 0.57×0.97, hind tibia 1.03; posterior length 19.00, abdominal width 3.00.

Sources: Emerson, A. E. 1928. Termites of the Belgian Congo and the Cameroon. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 57: 401–574., pp. 529–532 This text is an adaptation, not a verbatim transcription of the original.