Amitermes californicus 加州弓白蚁
- Type locality
- United States: California: San Diego County: Jacumba
- Distribution
- southwestern United States, Mexico
List： English (genus page) · 中文 · Español
Summary
Amitermes californicus is a species of the genus Amitermes, in the family TERMITIDAE (subfamily Amitermitinae). The species was described by Banks in 1920; the type locality is United States: California: San Diego County: Jacumba. Distribution: southwestern United States, Mexico.
Etymology
Genus name Amitermes: Etymology uncertain; -termes from Latin termes.
Specific epithet californicus: Named after the locality Californ
Taxonomic position
- Family: TERMITIDAE — 280 genera, 2144 species
- Subfamily: Amitermitinae — 14 genera, 194 species
- Genus: Amitermes — 113 species
- Type species of the genus: Amitermes amifer
Distribution
- Distribution records: southwestern United States, Mexico
The record above follows the wording of the original data; no geocoding or standardized place names have been applied.
Morphology
A species-level description from the original literature has not yet been compiled for this page. Original description: Banks, 1920. See the genus page for the genus-level description; this page will be updated after the original text is checked.
Photos 8 photos
Freely licensed photos, click to enlarge. Hotlinked from iNaturalist / Wikimedia Commons; the rights stay with the photographers — author, licence and source page are shown under each photo. Only the first 6 are shown here; the rest are under “All photos” at the end of the page.
Distribution map
No GBIF record with coordinates was found for this species.
Related papers
Cached papers for this genus (matched automatically, for reference); to search this species with its junior synonyms merged in, use the literature search.
- Protozoa in Termites of the Genus Amitermes
Abstract
1. Six species of Amitermes, one from Panama and five from California, have been examined for protozoa. Certain protozoa have been found in many or all individuals examined of all species, but they are much less abundant than are flagellates in termites of the three xylophagous families below the Termitidae. 2. Trichomonas lighti n.sp. has been found in all species, but not in all individuals. 3. Chilomastix minuta n.sp. occurs in Amitermes beaumonti. 4. Embadomonas termitis n.sp. is described from Amitermes beaumonti. 5. Endamoeba beaumonti n.sp. has been observed in five host species. In its size and nuclear structure it resembles Endamoeba disparata of Mirotermes hispaniolae. 6. Nyctotherus silvestrianus n.sp. has been found in three of the Californian species. It resembles N. termitis and N. ovalis, but is larger than the former and smaller than the latter. A long filament is attached to the end of the cytopharynx. A thickened, V-shaped structure lies against the cyto-pharynx. Several deeply staining fibrils arise from this V. 7. A coccidian has been found in one individual of Amitermes minimus. This forms sixteen banana-formed merozoites and three sporoblasts as in Chagasella. 8. Micro-organisms other than protozoa are very abundant in the intestines of all six species of Amitermes, and they are similar in all.
- Amitermes sp. and morphological comparison with Amitermes vilis Hagen (Termitidae- Isoptera)
Abstract
- The termite genus Amitermes in Africa and the Middle East.
Abstract
Papers on this species, synonyms included → OpenAlex Google Scholar CNKI
Abstracts come from open metadata; copyright remains with the original authors/publishers. For reference only — please check the original.
Literature notes
Edited notes based on the original literature, not transcriptions. The source markers in each paragraph point to archived records in .sources; full citations are listed below.
Species status restored in 2022
In a revision based on the University of Florida Termite Collection (UFTC) and literature records, Scheffrahn (2022) established that Amitermes californicus was described by Banks in 1920 from soldiers collected in southern California and southern Arizona, and that Light (1931, 1932) synonymised the name with Amitermes wheeleri without discussion, a synonymy that went unchallenged for ninety years. Scheffrahn re-examined soldiers of the genus Amitermes collected over thirty years in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, found two species separable by soldier mandibles, and restored Amitermes californicus to full species rank.
The revision lists the distinguishing characters: in Amitermes californicus the mandible bases, blades and marginal teeth are larger and stouter overall and the head capsule is more quadrate, with a mean soldier head width of 1.07 mm (0.93–1.18 mm; 60 soldiers from 25 colonies); in Amitermes wheeleri the mean is 0.98 mm in the United States (56 soldiers from 21 colonies) and 0.92 mm in Florida (7 soldiers from 4 colonies). The revised key separates the two species by a mean soldier head width of about 1.07 mm versus about 0.85 mm.
References
Other species in Amitermes (112 species)
- Amitermes abruptus
- Amitermes accinctus
- Amitermes acinacifer
- Amitermes aduncus
- Amitermes agrilus
- Amitermes amicki
- Amitermes amifer
- Amitermes aporema
- Amitermes arboreus
- Amitermes arcuatus
- Amitermes baluchistanicus
- Amitermes bandeirai
- Amitermes basidens
- Amitermes beaumonti
- Amitermes belli
- Amitermes boreus
- Amitermes braunsi
- Amitermes calabyi
- Amitermes capito
- Amitermes coachellae
- Amitermes colonus
- Amitermes conformis
- Amitermes corpulentus
- Amitermes cryptodon
- Amitermes darwini
- Amitermes dentatus
- Amitermes dentosus
- Amitermes deplanatus
- Amitermes desertorum
- Amitermes emersoni
- Amitermes ensifer
- Amitermes eucalypti
- Amitermes evuncifer
- Amitermes excellens
- Amitermes exilis
- Amitermes falcatus
- Amitermes firmus
- Amitermes foreli
- Amitermes gallagheri
- Amitermes germanus
112 species in this genus. See all species on the genus page →
Cite this species
Citation strings are generated from the fields of this page; please keep the DOI and the version number when citing.
GB/T 7714
班奈特格林. Extant Isoptera (termites): a checklist of Latin and Chinese names: Amitermes californicus 加州弓白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/amitermes-californicus/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.
BibTeX
@misc{isoptera_amitermes_californicus_2026,
author = {班奈特格林},
title = {Amitermes californicus: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
year = {2026},
version = {2026.10.30},
howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/amitermes-californicus/},
note = {TERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}
RIS
TY - ELEC TI - Amitermes californicus: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites) AU - 班奈特格林 PY - 2026 UR - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/amitermes-californicus/ DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836 ER -