Cryptotermes luodianis Xia, Gao & Deng, 1983 罗甸堆砂白蚁

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

Mandibles rather short, each with two marginal teeth. Labrum short, its tip bluntly rounded, with two rather long apical hairs. Antennae with 12–15 segments. The anterior margin of the pronotum with a broad V-shaped concavity, its edge not smooth but set with indistinct fine teeth, the anterior part slightly upturned, the median longitudinal line distinct, the posterior margin rather straight.

Alate

Head reddish brown, anteclypeus tinged with yellow, postclypeus and labrum deep brownish yellow, antennae brownish yellow; pronotum, abdomen and femora slightly deeper than the head, fore tibia pale yellowish brown, mid and hind tibiae paler, wings brownish yellow. The tip of the labrum with seven to nine hairs. Head nearly rectangular, the sides parallel, the posterior margin broadly arcuate, the Y suture faintly visible. Compound eyes projecting; ocelli small, nearly circular, close to the compound eyes; a brownish yellow crescent-shaped antennal spot visible. The frontal surface not very flat, with longitudinal wrinkles; anteclypeus trapezoidal, labrum broad and arched. The first marginal tooth of the left mandible oblique and sharp, its posterior cutting edge shorter than the anterior cutting edge of the second marginal tooth; the right mandible with two marginal teeth, the first acute, the second obtuse. Antennae with 13–15 segments, of the second to fourth the second or third longer. The pronotum slightly broader than the head, the median longitudinal line distinct, the anterior margin concave, the posterior margin slightly concave and apparently with a small notch, the posterolateral angles more rounded than the anterolateral. The forewing scale larger than the hindwing scale and covering the greater part of its posterior portion; in the forewing the subcosta extremely short, the radius reaching one-quarter to one-third of the wing length, the radial sector reaching the wing tip and giving off 6–7 branches, the media arising independently at the humeral suture, for the most part close to the cubitus, curving and joining the radial sector at about one-half to two-thirds of the wing length, the cubitus with about ten branches.

Worker

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Luodian, Guizhou.

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 8 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.