Coptotermes varicapitatus 异头乳白蚁
- Type locality
- China: Guangdong Province: Hainan Island
- Distribution
- China (Guangdong)
List: English (genus page) · 中文 · Español
Summary
Coptotermes varicapitatus is a species of the genus Coptotermes, in the family HETEROTERMITIDAE. The species was described by Tsai & Li in 1985; the type locality is China: Guangdong Province: Hainan Island. Distribution: China (Guangdong).
Etymology
Genus name Coptotermes: From Greek koptein (to cut) + Latin termes.
Specific epithet varicapitatus: Latin varius (varied) + capitatus (headed), varied-headed
Taxonomic position
- Family: HETEROTERMITIDAE — 3 genera, 229 species
- Genus: Coptotermes — 58 species
- Type species of the genus: Coptotermes gestroi
Distribution
- Distribution records: China (Guangdong)
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 head shape varies into two forms, elongate-oval and nearly circular. The elongate-oval form again occurs in two sizes, in the same colony the former making up about 70 per cent, the small elongate-oval form about 10 per cent and the nearly circular form about 20 per cent; nearly circular individuals differ only in having the broadest and largest head and a distinctly shorter postmentum, the remaining characters being very similar. Head, antennae and labrum yellow, mandibles reddish brown, pronotum pale yellow and paler in its posterior half, meso- and metathorax and abdominal tergites pale white. The sides of the fontanelle with two distinct bristles each, mostly one bristle between the antennal socket and the fontanelle, the head almost hairless, the disc with scattered short bristles, the hairs of the abdominal tergites rather long and rather dense. Mandibles rather straight, their tips only slightly curved; labrum longer than wide, slightly narrow in front; the fontanelle extending as a short tube, the aperture not visible in dorsal view, the fontanelle aperture nearly triangular. Antennae with 15 segments, the 3rd slightly short and small, or the 3rd and 4th almost equal. In the elongate-oval form the waist of the postmentum lies near the middle but towards the posterior, in the circular form the waist clearly at the posterior end. The anterior margin of the pronotum distinctly concave, the posterior margin indistinctly concave.
Alate
Worker
Nymph
Abstract (from the source)
The soldier head varies from long-oval to nearly round, and the long-oval kind further includes a large and a small form, the round-headed individuals making up about one fifth of a colony. The mandibles are nearly straight with only slightly curved tips, the labrum is longer than wide, and the fontanelle extends as a short tube whose pore is hidden in dorsal view. The antennae have fifteen segments.
Biology
Distribution and locality
Yinggehai Salt Field, Hainan; Guangxi.
Taxonomic notes
Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 99 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 varicapitatus 异头乳白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/coptotermes-varicapitatus/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.
BibTeX
@misc{isoptera_coptotermes_varicapitatus_2026,
author = {班奈特格林},
title = {Coptotermes varicapitatus: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
year = {2026},
version = {2026.10.30},
howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/coptotermes-varicapitatus/},
note = {HETEROTERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}
RIS
TY - ELEC TI - Coptotermes varicapitatus: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites) AU - 班奈特格林 PY - 2026 UR - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/coptotermes-varicapitatus/ DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836 ER -