Genus Roonwalitermes · 鲁恩沃白蚁属

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

A monotypic genus endemic to north-eastern India. Soldier dimorphic: major soldier with the head capsule globular, not constricted behind the antennae, abruptly narrowed anteriorly into a long, narrow, cylindrical nasus almost as long as the head, antennae 13-segmented; minor soldier with the head pyriform, antennae 11–12-segmented. Worker antennae 13-segmented, postclypeus only slightly arched (about one-quarter as long as wide).

Soldier

Dimorphic. Major soldier: head capsule globular, not constricted behind the antennae, entirely covered with microtrichia; the anterior part abruptly narrowed into a long, narrow, cylindrical nasus almost as long as the head; in lateral view the head capsule is slightly incurved at the base of the nasus; antennae 13-segmented, segment 3 long, narrow and clavate, segment 4 the shortest; mandibles vestigial, each with a short spine-like process and without teeth; pronotum strongly saddle-shaped; legs slender, tibial spur formula 2:2:2, tarsi 4-segmented. Minor soldier: head pyriform, not constricted behind the antennae; the anterior part narrowed into a long, narrow nasus, in lateral view with a weak swelling at its base; antennae 11–12-segmented; mandibles vestigial, with short spines; pronotum and legs as in the major soldier.

Worker

Head nearly circular; fontanelle circular; coronal suture present; antennae 13-segmented, the segments short and broadly rounded; postclypeus weakly arched, about one-quarter as long as wide; mandibles with an apical tooth and 2 marginal teeth, the apical tooth subequal in length to the first marginal tooth and the angle between them narrow; posterior margin of the first marginal tooth of the left mandible long and straight, the second marginal tooth short and triangular, the margin between the second marginal tooth and the molar plate strongly incurved, the molar prominence small and pointed; posterior margin of the first marginal tooth of the right mandible longer than its anterior margin, the second marginal tooth short with a long, straight posterior margin, the molar plate about 1.25 times the posterior margin of the second marginal tooth; pronotum and legs as in the soldier.

Sources: Chhotani, O. B. 1997. The Fauna of India and the Adjacent Countries: Isoptera (Termites), Volume II (Family Termitidae). Calcutta: Zoological Survey of India, xx+801 pp., pp. 746–747 This text is an adaptation, not a verbatim transcription of the original.