Dicuspiditermes laetus Silvestri, 1914 明亮突扭白蚁

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

Head straw yellow, abdomen white. Only a few hairs on the top of the frons, still sparser elsewhere, the abdomen with many hairs. Head cylindrical, raised like a mountain peak at the anterior sixth; the fontanelle situated behind the midpoint between the peak-like process and the labrum; in profile the anterior and posterior margins of the frontal process meeting almost at a right angle; the back of the head slightly broader than the front; a hard horn on the anterolateral side of each antenna. Mandibles twisted and asymmetrical, the tip of the left mandible hooked, the right rather straight. The anterior margin of the labrum forked into two sharp points. Antennae with 14 segments, the second, third and fourth of similar length, all shorter than the fifth. The notch of the anterior margin of the pronotum not very distinct. Abdomen short and small. The head capsule moderately to rather densely haired, the head rectangular and without frontal ridges; the middle of the left mandible moderately twisted, its tip hooked and swollen behind the hook, the right mandible sword-shaped with its tip also slightly hooked; labrum narrow and long, its anterior margin concave, the anterolateral angles slightly projecting; tibial spur formula 2:2:2.

Alate

Head dark red, the first and second antennal segments, labrum, posterior part of the mandibles and legs brownish yellow, postclypeus and pronotum dull yellowish brown, the venter of the abdomen paler, wings yellowish brown. The whole body densely covered with fine hairs. Head oval, the top flat; fontanelle elongate-oval; compound eyes circular and projecting, ocelli elongate-oval, the ocellus-compound eye distance about equal to the width of the ocellus; postclypeus raised, more than one-third as long as wide, its posterior margin arched forwards, the anterior margin straight. Antennae with 15 segments, the third finest and shortest, the second about twice as long as the third, the fourth shorter than the second and longer than the third. Pronotum with a pale cross-shaped marking, the anterior margin straight, the median notch indistinct, the anterolateral angles projecting, the middle of the posterior margin slightly concave. Forewing M arising independently at the humeral suture, situated between Rs and Cu and slightly towards Cu, dividing into four branches beyond two-thirds of the wing length, Cu with about 9–10 branches; hindwing M arising from Rs behind the humeral suture, the rest as in the forewing. The head capsule rather densely haired, the frontal gland pore small and narrow, oval; the postclypeus less than half as long as wide, with a median suture; the distance between the apical tooth and the first marginal tooth of the right mandible slightly greater than that between the first and second marginal teeth.

Worker

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Jinping (380 m, 450 m), Mojiang (1400 m) and Jinghong (500 m), Yunnan; abroad recorded from Myanmar.

Taxonomic notes

The original work records Dicuspiditermes garthwaitei, which is now placed in synonymy under D. laetus.

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 356 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.