Cryptotermes angustinotus Gao & Peng, 1983 狭背堆砂白蚁

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

The front of the head blackish brown, becoming paler behind the frontal ridges and turning brown at the posterior margin; labrum and antennae brownish yellow; pronotum pale brown, slightly deeper in front and deepest near the anterior margin. Head nearly square, short and thick, the median arm of the Y suture clearly visible. The frontal region shovel-shaped, its surface wrinkled, the frontal ridges raised with a median depression dividing the frontal surface into left and right halves, oblique wrinkles densely covering the slope from the frontal ridges to the top of the head. A horn-like process above and below each antennal socket; the eye beside the antennal socket, oval, rather large and projecting. Mandibles short, swollen at the base, the left mandible with two marginal teeth, the first directed obliquely forwards, the second low and stout, the right mandible also with two, the first facing inwards and obtusely angular, the second blunter. Labrum short, tongue-shaped. Antennae with 13–15 segments. The anterior margin of the pronotum concave in a broad V, the concave edge not smooth but set with fine teeth, the anterior part slightly upturned, the posterolateral margins nearly parallel, the posterior margin mostly straight, the median longitudinal line visible.

Alate

Head reddish brown, anteclypeus pale brownish yellow, labrum pale reddish brown, mandibles brownish yellow with the teeth darker, pronotum deeper than the head, wings greyish brown with the anterior margin reddish brown. Head nearly rectangular, the sides parallel, the posterior margin arcuate, the median arm of the epicranial suture visible. Compound eyes moderately projecting, nearly circular; ocelli mostly elongate-oval, close to the compound eyes but not touching them, the antennal spot distinct. The frons slightly uneven, with oblique shallow grooves on both sides. The distance from the compound eye to the antennal socket less than the short diameter of the ocellus, the distance from the compound eye to the lower margin of the head about two-thirds of the long diameter of the compound eye. Anteclypeus trapezoidal, labrum broad and arched. Left mandible with two marginal teeth, the first smaller with a sharp tip, the second broader; right mandible with two marginal teeth, the first pointed, the second forming an obtuse angle, the two teeth set very close together. Antennae with 14–15 segments, the second or third slightly longer than the fourth. Pronotum slightly narrower than the head, the middle of the anterior margin shallowly concave, the middle of the posterior margin distinctly concave, the sides arcuate, the anterolateral angles narrowly rounded, the posterolateral angles broadly rounded. Fore- and hindwing scales unequal, the anterior scale often larger than the posterior; in the forewing the subcosta rather short, the radius reaching about one-quarter of the wing length, the radial sector extending to the wing tip and giving off several branches, the media arising independently at the humeral suture, for the most part close to the cubitus, turning towards the radial sector at about three-quarters of the wing length and joining it, the cubitus with about ten or more branches.

Worker

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Jiang'an, Sichuan.

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 2 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.