Genus Xiaitermes · 夏氏白蚁属

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 in the original book's section on Xiaitermes, rearranged and rewritten); the source keys and measurement tables are not reproduced here.

Morphology

Key characters

Soldiers of two sizes, major and minor; head broadly rounded, wider than long; nasus tubular, its apex slightly upturned; a small tubercle on each side at the base of the nasus; not constricted behind the antennal sockets; apical teeth of the mandibles blunt and indistinct; anterior margin of the pronotum obliquely upturned; antennae with 13–14 segments.

Soldier

Soldiers of two sizes, major and minor. Head capsule almost bare, the tip of the nasus with only a few short setae. Head broadly rounded, wider than long; nasus tubular, its apex slightly upturned in lateral view; a small tubercle on each side at the base of the nasus. Not constricted behind the antennal sockets; antennae with 13–14 segments. Apical teeth of the mandibles blunt-angled or indistinct. Anterior margin of the pronotum obliquely upturned, concave at the middle, the posterior margin broad and rather flat. Hind tibia rather short; tibial spur formula 2:2:2; tarsi with four tarsomeres.

Worker

Workers of two sizes, major and minor. Head with sparse setae, its outline broad and rounded, widest behind the antennal sockets; fontanelle a circular pit, situated immediately behind the intersection of the T-shaped suture; postclypeus raised. Antennae with 14–15 segments. Pronotum broad, concave at the middle of its anterior margin. Hind tibia rather short.

Distribution

Oriental Region; recorded from Zhejiang and other subtropical areas of China, mostly in low hills and uplands.

Summary

Soldiers are dimorphic (major and minor). They are nearly bare apart from a few hairs at the nasus tip. The head is broad and rounded, wider than long; the nasus is tubular, slightly upturned at the tip in profile, with a small tubercle on each side at its base. The head is not constricted behind the antennal sockets, antennae are 13 or 14 segmented, and the mandibular apical teeth are blunt or indistinct. Workers are dimorphic (major and minor), with a round fontanelle pit just behind the T-shaped suture. The genus is Oriental and monotypic.

Taxonomic note: The key to species in the original book records two species: X. yinxianensis and X. tiantaiensis. Ye et al. 2026 (Insects 17(6):602), on mitochondrial genome and morphological evidence, synonymised X. tiantaiensis under X. yinxianensis (junior synonym), so the genus is now monotypic; the "soldier monotype" attributed to tiantaiensis is in fact the minor soldier morph of yinxianensis.

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.