Coptotermes shanghaiensis 上海乳白蚁
- Type locality
- China: Shanghai
- Distribution
- Shanghai, China
List： English (genus page) · 中文 · Español
Summary
Coptotermes shanghaiensis is a species of the genus Coptotermes, in the family HETEROTERMITIDAE. The species was described by Xia & He in 1986; the type locality is China: Shanghai. Distribution: Shanghai, China.
Etymology
Genus name Coptotermes: From Greek koptein (to cut) + Latin termes.
Specific epithet shanghaiensis: Named after the locality Shangha
Taxonomic position
- Family: HETEROTERMITIDAE — 3 genera, 229 species
- Genus: Coptotermes — 58 species
- Type species of the genus: Coptotermes gestroi
Distribution
- Distribution records: Shanghai, China
The record above follows the wording of the original data; no geocoding or standardized place names have been applied.
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: the base of the mandibles projects as a wavy edge, the labrum broadly spear-shaped, widest towards the posterior part, contracted at the tip, the transparent area triangular. The inner margin of the fontanelle aperture triangular, its basal width and height nearly equal, the rim almost vertical in profile. Antennae with 14 segments, the second larger than the fourth, the third shortest. Postmentum rather narrow and long, its widest part arched spherically, the oblique margins slightly concave near the middle; the narrowest waist situated near the posterior end; seen from the side, the anterior dorsal margin is rather straight, while the ventral margin bulges slightly at the widest part of the postmentum. The pronotum rather flat and extended, its length slightly more than half its width; the lateral margins broader in the anterior part, the middle of the anterior margin projecting slightly forwards and concave downwards, the notch both shallow and broad; the posterior margin narrower than the anterior, broadly straight, only slightly concave at the very middle. The hind tibia rather short, the arrangement of the spurs on each leg being three, two, two.
Alate
Alate: head pale yellowish brown, a pair of indistinct pale markings on the inner side in front of the ocelli, with another pair of distinct pale markings inside them; pronotum dull yellow, abdomen yellow, wing scales pale brown, wings pale yellow. The body covered with sparse long hairs and rather dense short hairs, the wing scales with a few long hairs, the wings covered with rather dense irregularly arranged short hairs. Head nearly circular, its dorsum flat and slightly inclined backwards; labrum broadly tongue-shaped; postclypeus nearly half as long as wide, the middle of its posterior margin slightly concave, with a median longitudinal suture; compound eyes nearly round, ocelli oval, fontanelle circular; antennae with 19 segments, the second larger than the fourth, the third shorter than the fourth. On the left mandible the anterior margin of the first marginal tooth is longer than half the posterior margin of the apical tooth, its posterior margin slightly longer than half the anterior margin of the second marginal tooth, and the posterior margin of the second marginal tooth slightly shorter than the anterior margin of the third marginal tooth; on the right mandible the anterior margin of the first marginal tooth bears a distinct subapical tooth, the posterior margin of the second marginal tooth wavy. The pronotum slightly longer than half its width, the sides arcuate, widest near the middle or slightly in front, the median notch of the anterior margin shallow and broad, the middle of the posterior margin distinctly concave, the middle of the posterior margins of the meso- and metanotum deeply concave with the sides projecting posteriorly as obtuse angles. Wings distinctly rather narrow; in the forewing the media arising independently at the humeral suture and closer to the cubitus, with one branch at the middle and one at the end, the cubitus with 8–9 branches; the hindwing broader than the forewing, its media arising from the radial sector beyond the wing scale. Tibial spur formula 3:2:2.
Worker
Nymph
Abstract (from the source)
The soldier has a broad spear-shaped labrum and a triangular fontanelle rim whose opening is almost vertical in profile, with fourteen antennal segments and a slender postmentum arched into a ball at its widest part. The alate has a nearly circular head, nineteen antennal segments, a rounded fontanelle and narrow wings; the forewing media leaves the shoulder suture independently, close to the cubitus, and the cubitus has eight or nine branches.
Biology
Distribution and locality
Shanghai; Zhejiang; Guangzhou, Guangdong.
Taxonomic notes
Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 97 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 hainanensis
- Coptotermes intermedius
- Coptotermes kalshoveni
- Coptotermes kishori
- Coptotermes lacteus
- Coptotermes longignathus
- Coptotermes longistriatus
- Coptotermes mauricianus
- Coptotermes melanoistriatus
- Coptotermes menadoae
- Coptotermes michaelseni
- Coptotermes minutissimus
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 shanghaiensis 上海乳白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/coptotermes-shanghaiensis/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.
BibTeX
@misc{isoptera_coptotermes_shanghaiensis_2026,
author = {班奈特格林},
title = {Coptotermes shanghaiensis: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
year = {2026},
version = {2026.10.30},
howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/coptotermes-shanghaiensis/},
note = {HETEROTERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}
RIS
TY - ELEC TI - Coptotermes shanghaiensis: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites) AU - 班奈特格林 PY - 2026 UR - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/coptotermes-shanghaiensis/ DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836 ER -