Amitermes wheeleri 惠勒弓白蚁
- Type locality
- United States: Texas: Belton
- Distribution
- United States, Mexico
List： English (genus page) · 中文 · Español
Summary
Amitermes wheeleri is a species of the genus Amitermes, in the family TERMITIDAE (subfamily Amitermitinae). The species was described by Desneux in 1906; the type locality is United States: Texas: Belton. Distribution: United States, Mexico. This site records 4 junior synonyms for the species.
Etymology
Genus name Amitermes: Etymology uncertain; -termes from Latin termes.
Specific epithet wheeleri: Named after the myrmecologist W. M. Wheeler
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: United States, Mexico
The record above follows the wording of the original data; no geocoding or standardized place names have been applied.
Junior synonyms
This site records 4 junior synonyms for the species, listed by their original literature source:
- Amitermes arizonensis Banks, 1920: 56, 59 — type locality: United States: Arizona: Fort Grant
- Amitermes (Amitermes) spadix Light, 1932: 388-398 — type locality: United States: Texas: Uvalde
- Amitermes (Amitermes) parvipunctus Light, 1932: 388 — type locality: United States: Texas: Uvalde
- Amitermes floridensis Scheffrahn, Su & Mangold, 1989: 618-624 — type locality: United States: Florida: Pinellas Co.: St. Petersburg
In older literature, regional checklists and database searches, this species may appear under the synonyms above (Amitermes arizonensis, Amitermes (Amitermes) spadix, Amitermes (Amitermes) parvipunctus, Amitermes floridensis); this site treats them all under Amitermes wheeleri.
Morphology
A species-level description from the original literature has not yet been compiled for this page. Original description: Desneux, 1906. See the genus page for the genus-level description; this page will be updated after the original text is checked.
Photos 2 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.
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.
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.
Amitermes floridensis sunk into synonymy
According to the revision by Scheffrahn (2022), Amitermes floridensis, described in 1989 from Florida specimens, is sunk as a junior synonym (syn. nov.) of Amitermes wheeleri; the author suggests that the Florida population was introduced from the southwestern United States with the ornamental palm trade. The Mexican fan palm Washingtonia robusta has been widely cultivated along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida, and the date palm Phoenix dactylifera, grown in California and Arizona since 1900, was commonly imported into Florida as a landscape plant.
The same revision notes that new collection records show Amitermes wheeleri has not been collected in California, the Californian specimens of earlier records being Amitermes californicus. According to the abstract, the 1994 keys to the soldier and winged adult termites of Florida listed Amitermes floridensis as the only termitid (Termitidae) among the 17 termite species then known from the state; that name is now placed in the synonymy of Amitermes wheeleri.
References
- Scheffrahn, R. H. (2022). Amitermes californicus Banks, 1920 (Isoptera, Termitidae, Termitinae) resurrected after ninety years of synonymy and A. floridensis Scheffrahn, 1989 synonymized into A. wheeleri (Desneux, 1906). Zootaxa, 5128(4), 581–588.
- Scheffrahn, R. H. & Su, N.-Y. (1994). Keys to soldier and winged adult termites (Isoptera) of Florida. Florida Entomologist, 77(4), 460–474.
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 californicus
- 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
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 wheeleri 惠勒弓白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/amitermes-wheeleri/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.
BibTeX
@misc{isoptera_amitermes_wheeleri_2026,
author = {班奈特格林},
title = {Amitermes wheeleri: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
year = {2026},
version = {2026.10.30},
howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/amitermes-wheeleri/},
note = {TERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}
RIS
TY - ELEC TI - Amitermes wheeleri: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites) AU - 班奈特格林 PY - 2026 UR - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/amitermes-wheeleri/ DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836 ER -