Genus Stolotermes · 胄白蚁属

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

The original diagnosis was given for the subfamily and the genus combined (the genus was monotypic at the time, so the generic characters were the subfamily characters). Its most conspicuous feature is the degeneration of the ocelli; the mandibular pattern is clearly homologous with that of Archotermopsis, being intermediate in type between Archotermopsis and Hodotermopsis. Alates lack a fontanelle and an arolium, and the postclypeus is extremely short and fused with the frons; soldiers lack a frontal gland, the fore and mid tibiae bear 2–3 apical spurs and the hind tibia 2, and both sexes have a pair of styli.

Alate

Head, pronotum, wing scales and abdomen covered with fairly long hairs, the head less densely so; no fontanelle; epicranial suture present; ocelli degenerate; compound eyes medium-sized, oval, with a rather straight anterior margin, separated from the lower margin of the head by slightly more than half their length; postclypeus extremely short and fused with the frons, the boundary being a depression with no visible suture, about 5 times as wide as long; anteclypeus short, transparent; labrum tongue-shaped, with a rather straight apex; antennae 15–17-segmented; right mandible with 2 marginal teeth and a molar plate, the anterior part of the 1st marginal tooth bearing a small subsidiary tooth near its base; left mandible with 3 subequal marginal teeth, the 3rd separated from the other two by a wide-angled notch; pronotum much narrower than the head, rather flat, with a shallow longitudinal median depression and a shallow lateral depression on each side of the anterior margin, together forming a Y-shaped depression, the anterior margin evenly concave, the lateral margins slightly rounded, the posterior margin wider and slightly concave; tibial apical spurs 3:3:2 or 2:2:2; tarsi 4-segmented; no arolium; cerci 4–5-segmented; female without styli, the male styli reaching near the abdominal apex.

Soldier

Head, thorax and abdomen sparsely covered with hairs and longer setae; head proportionally large, elongate or oval, flat or rather flat, the anterior part evenly continuous with the vertex; epicranial suture present; no frontal gland; anterior part of the postmentum wide, its narrowest point less than half its greatest width; mandibles proportionally large, the left with 3 marginal teeth, 4 notches and a molar plate, the right with 2 marginal teeth, 3 notches and a molar plate, the 2nd marginal tooth with a long cutting edge bearing a point at each end; eyes distinct; antennae 14–18-segmented; labrum broadly tongue-shaped, the anterior margin straight or curved; postclypeus fused with the frons but the sutural depression still present; pronotum narrower than the head; tarsi 4-segmented, no arolium; femora swollen; fore and mid tibiae with 2–3 apical spurs, hind tibia with 2; both sexes with a pair of styli; cerci 4–5-segmented.

Sources: Emerson, A. E. 1942. The relations of a relict South African termite (Isoptera, Hodotermitidae, Stolotermes). American Museum Novitates 1187: 1–12., pp. 7–9 This text is an adaptation, not a verbatim transcription of the original.