Genus Pterotermes · 翅白蚁属
Filter the taxa recorded under this genus by name and locality; for the whole site use the full-text search.
Distribution map
Photographs 3 photos · 1 species
Freely licensed photos; click to enlarge. This preview shows 6 photos; to browse by species, open “All photos”. Photos are hotlinked from iNaturalist / Wikimedia Commons; the rights stay with the photographers.
About the genus
This genus belongs to the family Kalotermitidae 木白蚁科; the site records 1 species.
Type species: Pterotermes occidentis.
This page includes a distribution map for the genus (GBIF records aggregated on a 1° grid); open a species entry to see its type locality, distribution, and references.
Etymology
From Greek pteron (wing) + Latin 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
The alate is closely related to Incisitermes and Marginitermes but can be distinguished by its large eyes (0.68–0.71 mm in diameter) and 20–21 antennal segments; the soldier is the largest in the family, with pigmented eyes, a nearly saddle-shaped pronotum and a sclerotised swelling at the base of the postmentum.
Alate
Brown; eyes large, 0.68–0.71 mm in diameter, ocelli touching the compound eye; antennae 20–21 segments; the first and second marginal teeth of the left mandible equal in length at the base to the third marginal tooth, their posterior margins equal in length to the anterior margin of the third marginal tooth; posterior margin of the second marginal tooth of the right mandible equal in length to the molar plate; pronotum as wide as the head; subcosta of the forewing long, unbranched; radial sector with 5–6 branches, the first branch at about 1/4 of the wing length; media weak, unsclerotised, lying between the radial sector and the cubitus, branched apically in some specimens; arolium always absent.
Soldier
Largest in the family; head very large, the sides rounded; frons inclined gradually downwards from near the middle of the head; a median ridge on each side of the postclypeus, as in Rugitermes; an angular process below and in front of the antennal sockets, near the lateral base of the mandibles; eyes pigmented; antennae 17 segments, the third longer than the second and the fourth; mandibles long and thick, toothed, the basal tubercle distinct; a sclerotised swelling at the base of the postmentum; pronotum wider than the head, slightly saddle-shaped, the anterior margin deeply concave and covering the posterior part of the head, the anterolateral corners raised; mesothorax and metathorax with distinct wing buds; femora swollen.
Sources: Krishna K. 1961. A generic revision and phylogenetic study of the family Kalotermitidae (Isoptera). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 122: 303–408., pp. 351–353 This text is an adaptation, not a verbatim transcription of the original.
Species (1)
- Pterotermes occidentis Walker, 1853 西部翅白蚁 ★ Type species
Parent level: Checklist index · Kalotermitidae 木白蚁科 · Data & downloads