Amitermes excellens Silvestri, 1923 优秀弓白蚁

Species

Type locality: Guyana: Cuyuni-Mazaruni: Kartabo [ 6.38N 58.7W ]
Distribution: Brazil, Guiana Shield, Venezuela

List： English (genus page) · 中文 · Español

Summary

Amitermes excellens is a species of the genus Amitermes, in the family TERMITIDAE (subfamily Amitermitinae). The species was described by Silvestri in 1923; the type locality is Guyana: Cuyuni-Mazaruni: Kartabo [ 6.38N 58.7W ]. Distribution: Brazil, Guiana Shield, Venezuela.

Etymology

Genus name Amitermes: Etymology uncertain; -termes from Latin termes.

Specific epithet excellens: Latin excellens (excellent)

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: Brazil, Guiana Shield, Venezuela

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: Silvestri, 1923. 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.

Amitermes excellens（(c) tlaloc27, some rights reserved (CC BY)，CC BY） — (c) tlaloc27, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY iNaturalist

Amitermes excellens（(c) Will Kuhn, some rights reserved (CC BY)，CC BY） — (c) Will Kuhn, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY iNaturalist

Amitermes excellens（iNaturalist observer w_endo，CC0） — iNaturalist observer w_endo CC0 iNaturalist

View all 8 photos

Distribution map

Aggregated from GBIF occurrence records on a 1° grid; only extant taxa of this checklist are used, so fossil records are excluded. Dot size and shade show the number of records inside a cell.

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25 records · 13 grid cells · GeoJSON · Amitermes · checklist extant taxa only

Other databases

The links below are produced by matching the scientific name against public APIs, for cross-checking. The checklist data itself is unchanged.

GBIF Backbone Amitermes excellens accepted Amitermes excellens (Silvestri, 1923) · confidence 100
Catalogue of Life Amitermes excellens (Silvestri, 1923) accepted
WikidataQ130722274taxon item
World checklist Blattodea Species FileAmitermes excellens (Silvestri, 1923) validauto-matched

✔ Consistent with the accepted names in GBIF and Catalogue of Life.

Sources：GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · Catalogue of Life (3LR, 2026-10-14 · doi:10.48580/dgzh4) · Wikidata (P225) · Blattodea Species File. Retrieved on 2026-11-13 (UTC). Matching method and decision rules are described on the data page.

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Records follow the original literature; please attach an evidence link.

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
Harold Kirby · 1932 · Parasitology
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)
R Ghayourfar, M. Esmaili · 1991 ·
Abstract
The termite genus Amitermes in Africa and the Middle East.
William A. Sands · 1992 · OpenGrey (Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique)
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.

Position within the soldier-mandible groups

According to the abstract, Scheffrahn (2022), following the 1989 key, divides Amitermes soldiers into two groups by mandibular dentition: Amitermes excellens belongs to the group whose marginal teeth project vertically and have an anterior face, together with Amitermes wheeleri, Amitermes amifer and Amitermes foreli.

Mound builder of the Roraima savanna

According to Oliveira et al.'s (2026) study in the Surumu Depression of north-eastern Roraima, in a savanna–caatinga ecotone, transects across Plinthosols and Acrisols recorded 16 species or morphospecies in 8 genera and 2 families, with Termitidae dominating; Amitermes excellens was not numerically dominant but was the main builder of the large conical and cathedral-shaped mounds that structure the landscape; the mounds differ markedly from adjacent soils in physical and chemical properties, with selective incorporation of fine particles and enrichment in bases, nitrogen and organic matter; mound density was higher on poorly drained Plinthosols, whereas larger and older mounds occurred on better-drained Acrisols, and the authors estimated bioturbation rates of 47.5–85.3 mm per thousand years along the toposequence.

References

Literature notes updated: 2026-11-13.

Other species in Amitermes (112 species)

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 excellens 优秀弓白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/amitermes-excellens/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.

BibTeX

@misc{isoptera_amitermes_excellens_2026,
  author       = {班奈特格林},
  title        = {Amitermes excellens: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {2026.10.30},
  howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/amitermes-excellens/},
  note         = {TERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}

RIS

TY  - ELEC
TI  - Amitermes excellens: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)
AU  - 班奈特格林
PY  - 2026
UR  - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/amitermes-excellens/
DO  - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836
ER  -