Heterotermes tenuis 细瘦异白蚁
- Type locality
- Brasil: ?; Colombia: ?; Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo; Haiti: ?
- Distribution
- Neotropics, South America to Central America, Mexico, Montserrat, United States, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, French Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, French Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands
List： English (genus page) · 中文 · Español
Summary
Heterotermes tenuis is a species of the genus Heterotermes, in the family HETEROTERMITIDAE. The species was described by Hagen in 1858; the type locality is Brasil: ?; Colombia: ?; Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo; Haiti: ?. Distribution: Neotropics, South America to Central America, Mexico, Montserrat, United States, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, French Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, French Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands. This site records 2 junior synonyms for the species.
Etymology
Genus name Heterotermes: From Greek heteros (different) + Latin termes.
Specific epithet tenuis: Latin tenuis (slender)
Taxonomic position
- Family: HETEROTERMITIDAE — 3 genera, 229 species
- Genus: Heterotermes — 31 species
- Type species of the genus: Heterotermes platycephalus
Distribution
- Distribution records: Neotropics, South America to Central America, Mexico, Montserrat, United States, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, French Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, French Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands
The record above follows the wording of the original data; no geocoding or standardized place names have been applied.
Junior synonyms
This site records 2 junior synonyms for the species, listed by their original literature source:
- Leucotermes flavipes paraensis Wasmann, 1902: 119 — type locality: Brasil: Pará
- Termes corticola Snyder, 1924: 14 — type locality: Panama: Obispo
In older literature, regional checklists and database searches, this species may appear under the synonyms above (Leucotermes flavipes paraensis, Termes corticola); this site treats them all under Heterotermes tenuis.
Morphology
A species-level description from the original literature has not yet been compiled for this page. Original description: Hagen, 1858. See the genus page for the genus-level description; this page will be updated after the original text is checked.
Photos 2 photos
Freely licensed photos, click to enlarge. Hotlinked from iNaturalist / Wikimedia Commons; the rights stay with the photographers — author, licence and source page are shown under each photo.
Distribution map
Aggregated from GBIF occurrence records on a 1° grid; only extant taxa of this checklist are used, so fossil records are excluded. Dot size and shade show the number of records inside a cell.
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.
- Soldiers Initiate Foraging Activities in the Subterranean Termite,Heterotermes tenuis
Abstract
Caste polyethism has been recorded in some termite species, however the foraging behavior of subterranean termites remains poorly known. Heterotermes tenuis Hagen (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) is a subterranean termite that is native to Brazil and is an agricultural and urban pest. The aim of this study was to investigate which caste acts as scouts when searching for food sources and determinate the percentages of each caste present in the foraging territories of field colonies of H. tenuis. Our results showed no significant differences among the caste proportions present in the foraging territories of the three colonies studied in the field. Laboratory experiments showed that minor soldiers were the most frequent initiators of foraging activities. This result suggests that the exploratory phase of the foraging behavior may be regulated by the number of soldiers present in the foraging territories of each colony.
- Intercolonial Aggression in the Subterranean Termite Heterotermes Aureus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)
Abstract
- Molecular Phylogeny and Biogeography of Heterotermes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in the West Indies
Abstract
A phylogenetic analysis of Heterotermes from 63 locations in the West Indies and associated mainland is presented based on the DNA sequence of a portion of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. Maximum parsimony analysis of the aligned Heterotermes species and the outgroup taxa resulted in a consensus tree with five distinct West Indian groups. Morphological characters and geographical distribution supported the resulting clades, which were given the following taxonomic assignments: Heterotermes cardini (Bahamas and Cuba); Heterotermes sp. (Bonaire, FL; Grand Cayman; Grand Turk; Jamaica; and St. Barthelemy), Heterotermes convexinotatus (Antigua, Barbados, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Venezuela, and Virgin Island), and Heterotermes tenuis (Lesser Antilles except Barbados and Martinique, Ecuador, and Suriname). The Florida Heterotermes sp. is a known nonendemic population, whereas those on Barbados, Grand Cayman, Grand Turk, Martinique, St. Barthelemy, and elsewhere may harbor or consist solely of nonendemic populations.
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.
Literature notes
Edited notes based on the original literature, not transcriptions. The source markers in each paragraph point to archived records in .sources; full citations are listed below.
Distribution in the West Indies
According to the abstract, Szalanski et al. (2004) assigned populations from the Lesser Antilles except Barbados and Martinique, from Ecuador and from Suriname to Heterotermes tenuis.
Soldier-led foraging
In a 12-month survey of three field colonies at Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil (22°23′43″S, 47°32′39″W), Casarin et al. (2008) found no significant difference in caste proportions within the foraging territories of Heterotermes tenuis (ANOVA, F=0.168, df=2, P=0.846), workers being the most abundant caste in every colony. In the laboratory, minor soldiers were the most frequent initiators of foraging, and the frequency with which each caste took part depended on the number of soldiers (G=20.5092, df=6, P<0.01) rather than on the total number of termites (G=0.14619, df=2, P>0.01).
The study's three bioassays, each replicated ten times at 24–26°C and 80% RH, compared groups of 100 and 200 individuals with soldier proportions of 5% and 20%; in the field colonies, foragers consisted of 95% workers, 3% minor soldiers and 2% major soldiers. The authors therefore suggest that the exploratory phase of foraging in Heterotermes tenuis is regulated by the number of soldiers present in the foraging territory.
References
- Szalanski, A. L.; Scheffrahn, R. H.; Austin, J. W.; Křeček, J.; Su, N.-Y. 2004. Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of Heterotermes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in the West Indies. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 97: 556–566.
- Casarin, F. E., Costa-Leonardo, A. M. & Arab, A. (2008). Soldiers initiate foraging activities in the subterranean termite, Heterotermes tenuis. Journal of Insect Science, 8.
Other species in Heterotermes (30 species)
- Heterotermes aethiopicus
- Heterotermes assu
- Heterotermes aureus
- Heterotermes balwanti
- Heterotermes brevicatena
- Heterotermes cardini
- Heterotermes ceylonicus
- Heterotermes convexinotatus
- Heterotermes crinitus
- Heterotermes ferox
- Heterotermes gertrudae
- Heterotermes indicola
- Heterotermes intermedius
- Heterotermes lauralinearum
- Heterotermes longicatena
- Heterotermes longiceps
- Heterotermes maculatus
- Heterotermes malabaricus
- Heterotermes occiduus
- Heterotermes omanae
- Heterotermes pamatatensis
- Heterotermes paradoxus
- Heterotermes perfidus
- Heterotermes philippinensis
- Heterotermes platycephalus
- Heterotermes sulcatus
- Heterotermes tenuior
- Heterotermes vagus
- Heterotermes validus
- Heterotermes wittmeri
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: Heterotermes tenuis 细瘦异白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/heterotermes-tenuis/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.
BibTeX
@misc{isoptera_heterotermes_tenuis_2026,
author = {班奈特格林},
title = {Heterotermes tenuis: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
year = {2026},
version = {2026.10.30},
howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/heterotermes-tenuis/},
note = {HETEROTERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}
RIS
TY - ELEC TI - Heterotermes tenuis: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites) AU - 班奈特格林 PY - 2026 UR - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/heterotermes-tenuis/ DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836 ER -