Coptotermes hainanensis 海南乳白蚁
- Type locality
- China: Guangdong Province: Hainan Island: Danxiaan County
- Distribution
- China (Hainan)
List: English (genus page) · 中文 · Español
Summary
Coptotermes hainanensis is a species of the genus Coptotermes, in the family HETEROTERMITIDAE. The species was described by Li & Tsai in 1985; the type locality is China: Guangdong Province: Hainan Island: Danxiaan County. Distribution: China (Hainan). This site records 1 junior synonym for the species.
Etymology
Genus name Coptotermes: From Greek koptein (to cut) + Latin termes.
Specific epithet hainanensis: After Hainan (China)
Taxonomic position
- Family: HETEROTERMITIDAE — 3 genera, 229 species
- Genus: Coptotermes — 58 species
- Type species of the genus: Coptotermes gestroi
Distribution
- Distribution records: China (Hainan)
The record above follows the wording of the original data; no geocoding or standardized place names have been applied.
Junior synonyms
This site records 1 junior synonym for the species, listed by its original literature source:
- Coptotermes (Polycrinitermes) jiaxingensis Xia & He, 1986: 165-166, 179 — type locality: China: Zhejiang Province: Jiaxing County
In older literature, regional checklists and database searches, this species may appear under the synonym Coptotermes (Polycrinitermes) jiaxingensis; this site treats it under Coptotermes hainanensis.
Recorded in Fauna Sinica
The morphological and biological accounts below are taken from Fauna Sinica and related literature; only structure and punctuation have been standardized here.
Morphology
Soldier
Soldier dimorphic. Head brownish yellow, mandibles reddish brown, pronotum paler than the head, meso- and metathorax and abdomen nearly milky white. The pilosity of the head sparse, the fontanelle with two pairs of hairs, hairs between the fontanelle and the antennal sockets, the labrum with apical and subapical hairs, the disc hairs generally visible as two pairs, the pronotum rather sparsely haired. The oval head rather narrow and long, longer than its greatest width, widest near the middle, the middle of the posterior margin slightly projecting, the middle of the dorsal margin slightly concave in profile, the postmentum projecting rather downwards; the inner margin of the fontanelle aperture nearly triangular, its height slightly less than its width, the top slightly inclined backwards in profile; the tips of the mandibles curved inwards with the curved end extending rather long, the base of the outer margin slightly projecting; labrum long spear-shaped, widest near the posterior part, the transparent area small and obtusely triangular; antennae with 16 segments, the second larger than the fourth, the third shortest; postmentum narrow and long, the oblique margin before the widest part nearly straight, the waist rather narrow with its narrowest part posterior. The pronotum rather narrow, broader at the anterior part of both sides, the median notch of the anterior margin deep and wide, the median notch of the posterior margin shallow and narrow. Tibial spur formula 3:2:2. The circular head is distinctly broader, its width only slightly less than the length of the head, the posterior margin nearly round, widest at the middle, the middle of the dorsal margin arcuate in profile, the anterior part of the postmentum rather low and flat, the middle rather raised and slightly inclined backwards, the waist rather narrow with its narrowest part posterior, the labrum slightly broad and spear-shaped, the rest similar to the oval form.
Alate
Alate: head pale yellowish brown, mandibles reddish brown with the base paler, antennae yellow, compound eyes black, the markings on the inner side in front of the ocelli rather indistinct and distinctly paler than the head, the margin of the pronotum dull yellow and the disc pale yellow, wing scales deep yellow, meso- and metathorax and abdomen pale yellow. The long hairs of the head evenly distributed, the short hairs sparse, the dorsum of the pronotum rather densely haired and bearing long hairs, the wing membrane rather densely haired.
Worker
Nymph
Abstract (from the source)
Soldiers are dimorphic. In the oval-headed form the head is elongate, widest near the middle, with the fontanelle opening nearly triangular and the labrum a long spear shape bearing a small blunt transparent area; the antennae have sixteen segments. The round-headed form has a broader head, a more arched dorsal profile and a shorter postmentum. The alate is pale brownish yellow with dark wing scales and a densely pubescent wing membrane.
Biology
Damages dead rubber trees.
Distribution and locality
Nada, Hainan; Jiaxing, Zhejiang.
Taxonomic notes
Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 89 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.
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.
- Phylogeography of Coptotermes gestroi and Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in Taiwan
Abstract
Abstract The Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), is primarily reported from subtropical and warm temperate regions, whereas Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann) is reported from many areas of the tropics. Taiwan is one of a few areas where the distributions of the two species overlap. By analyzing partial mitochondrial sequences of COII, 12S rRNA, and 16S rRNA, we found that most Taiwanese C. formosanus populations were closely related to Japanese and some Chinese populations and that Taiwanese C. gestroi populations were most closely related to those from the Philippines and Hawaii rather than populations from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. The intraspecific variation of C. formosanus was 0.7–0.8% for three genes among seven Taiwanese populations, whereas all Taiwanese C. gestroi populations had identical sequences. The results support that Taiwan may be a center of origin for C. formosanus, but a recent introduction site for C. gestroi.
- Genetic Relationship Between Coptotermes gestroi and Coptotermes vastator (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)
Abstract
The phylogenetic relationship of Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann) and Coptotermes vastator Light (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) was determined using DNA sequence comparisons of mitochondrial genes. Partial sequences of the ribosomal RNA small subunit 12S, ribosomal RNA large subunit 16S, and mitochondrial COII were obtained from nine populations of C. gestroi from South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia) and four populations of C. vastator from the Philippines and Hawaii. In addition, four populations of Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki and Globitermes sulphureus (Haviland) were used as the outgroups. Consensus sequences were obtained and aligned. C. vastator and C. gestroi are synonymous, based on high sequence homology across the 12S, 16S, and COII genes. The interspecific pairwise sequence divergence, based on Kimura 2-parameter model between C. gestroi and C. vastator, varied only up to 0.80%. Morphometric measurements of 16 characteristics revealed numerous overlaps between the examined individuals of both species. Based on the molecular phylogenetics and morphometric data, it is proposed that C. vastator is a junior synonym of C. gestroi.
- Tunneling activity, wood consumption and survivorship of Coptotermes gestroi, Coptotermes curvignathus and Coptotermes kalshoveni (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in the laboratory
Abstract
The tunneling activity, wood consumption and survivorship of three species of subterranean termites, Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann), C. curvignathus Holmgren and C. kalshoveni Kemner were compared in the laboratory using two methods: petri dish and glass jar methods. The petri dish method consisted of a 15-cm petri dish containing 5% agar and 4 rubber wood blocks placed at positions of 0, 90, 180 and 270°. The second method consisted of a glass jar containing 200 g sand moistened with 40 ml distilled water and a piece each of rubber and pine wood on the top of the sand surface. Termites were released into the dish and jar, and allowed to tunnel freely for 28 days. At the end of the experiment, the tunneling activity was semi-quantitatively ranked, the set-up was dissembled, and termite survivorship and wood consumption rate were determined. Results suggested that C. curvignathus has the most active tunneling activity, followed by C. gestroi. On the other hand, C. kalshoveni has the least tunneling activity, but highest wood consumption rate, possibly showing a higher resource fidelity. The survivorship of the termites was >75% after the 28-day experimental period.
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.
Other species in Coptotermes (57 species)
- Coptotermes acinaciformis
- Coptotermes amanii
- Coptotermes amboinensis
- Coptotermes bannaensis
- Coptotermes beckeri
- Coptotermes bentongensis
- Coptotermes boetonensis
- Coptotermes brunneus
- Coptotermes ceylonicus
- Coptotermes chaoxianensis
- Coptotermes cooloola
- Coptotermes curvignathus
- Coptotermes cyclocoryphus
- Coptotermes dimorphus
- Coptotermes dobonicus
- Coptotermes dreghorni
- Coptotermes elisae
- Coptotermes emersoni
- Coptotermes formosanus
- Coptotermes frenchi
- Coptotermes fumipennis
- Coptotermes gambrinus
- Coptotermes gaurii
- Coptotermes gestroi
- Coptotermes grandiceps
- Coptotermes grandis
- Coptotermes guangdongensis
- Coptotermes gulangyuensis
- Coptotermes intermedius
- Coptotermes kalshoveni
- Coptotermes kishori
- Coptotermes lacteus
- Coptotermes longignathus
- Coptotermes longistriatus
- Coptotermes mauricianus
- Coptotermes melanoistriatus
- Coptotermes menadoae
- Coptotermes michaelseni
- Coptotermes minutissimus
- Coptotermes monosetosus
57 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: Coptotermes hainanensis 海南乳白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/coptotermes-hainanensis/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.
BibTeX
@misc{isoptera_coptotermes_hainanensis_2026,
author = {班奈特格林},
title = {Coptotermes hainanensis: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
year = {2026},
version = {2026.10.30},
howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/coptotermes-hainanensis/},
note = {HETEROTERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}
RIS
TY - ELEC TI - Coptotermes hainanensis: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites) AU - 班奈特格林 PY - 2026 UR - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/coptotermes-hainanensis/ DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836 ER -