Macrotermes michaelseni Sjöstedt, 1914 米夏埃尔森大白蚁

Species

Type locality: Namibia: Okahandja
Distribution: Old World tropics, East Africa, southern Africa, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

List： English (genus page) · 中文 · Español

Summary

Macrotermes michaelseni is a species of the genus Macrotermes, in the family TERMITIDAE (subfamily Macrotermitinae). The species was described by Sjöstedt in 1914; the type locality is Namibia: Okahandja. Distribution: Old World tropics, East Africa, southern Africa, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. This site records 4 junior synonyms for the species.

Etymology

Genus name Macrotermes: From Greek makros (large) + Latin termes, ‘large termite’.

Specific epithet michaelseni: Named after W. Michaelsen

Taxonomic position

Family: TERMITIDAE — 280 genera, 2144 species
Subfamily: Macrotermitinae — 12 genera, 373 species
Genus: Macrotermes — 57 species
Type species of the genus: Macrotermes lilljeborgi

Distribution

Distribution records: Old World tropics, East Africa, southern Africa, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

The record above follows the wording of the original data; no geocoding or standardized place names have been applied.

Junior synonyms

This site records 4 junior synonyms for the species, listed by their original literature source:

Termes (Termes) bellicosus mossambica Hagen, 1858: 118-121 — type locality: Mozambique: ?
Macrotermes bellicosus limpopoensis Fuller, 1922: 73 — type locality: South Africa: Transvaal: Messina
Macrotermes bellicosus kunenensis Fuller, 1922: 73 — type locality: Namibia: Ovamboland: Onganga
Macrotermes bellicosus tonga Fuller, 1927: 137 — type locality: South Africa: Natal: Upper Mkuzi Drift below Tshanana Peak

In older literature, regional checklists and database searches, this species may appear under the synonyms above (Termes (Termes) bellicosus mossambica, Macrotermes bellicosus limpopoensis, Macrotermes bellicosus kunenensis, Macrotermes bellicosus tonga); this site treats them all under Macrotermes michaelseni.

Morphology

A species-level description from the original literature has not yet been compiled for this page. Original description: Sjöstedt, 1914. See the genus page for the genus-level description; this page will be updated after the original text is checked.

Photos 15 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. Only the first 6 are shown here; the rest are under “All photos” at the end of the page.

Macrotermes michaelseni（iNaturalist observer annmcpete，CC0） — iNaturalist observer annmcpete CC0 iNaturalist

Macrotermes michaelseni（iNaturalist observer dune_ninja，CC0） — iNaturalist observer dune_ninja CC0 iNaturalist

Macrotermes michaelseni（iNaturalist observer eugenemarais，CC0） — iNaturalist observer eugenemarais CC0 iNaturalist

View all 15 photos

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.

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112 records · 41 grid cells · GeoJSON · Macrotermes · checklist extant taxa only

Other databases

The links below are produced by matching the scientific name against public APIs, for cross-checking. The checklist data itself is unchanged.

GBIF Backbone Macrotermes michaelseni accepted Macrotermes michaelseni (Sjöstedt, 1914) · confidence 100
Catalogue of Life Macrotermes michaelseni (Sjöstedt, 1914) accepted
WikidataQ20919345taxon item
World checklist Blattodea Species FileMacrotermes michaelseni (Sjöstedt, 1914) validauto-matched

✔ Consistent with the accepted names in GBIF and Catalogue of Life.

Sources：GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · Catalogue of Life (3LR, 2026-10-14 · doi:10.48580/dgzh4) · Wikidata (P225) · Blattodea Species File. Retrieved on 2026-11-13 (UTC). Matching method and decision rules are described on the data page.

Found a naming or distribution problem? Report an error →

Records follow the original literature; please attach an evidence link.

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.

Intraspecific colony recognition in the termites Macrotermes subhyalinus and Macrotermes bellicosus (Isoptera, Termitidae)
P. Jmhasly, Reinhard H. Leuthold · 1999 · Insectes Sociaux
Abstract
Ecdysone and ecdysterone in physogastric termite queens and eggs of Macrotermes bellicosus and Macrotermes subhyalinus
Jean‐Paul Delbecque, Beatrice Lanzrein, Christian Bordereau, Hans Imboden, Michel H. Hirn, John D. O’Connor, Ch. Noirot, Martin Lüscher et al. · 1978 · General and Comparative Endocrinology
Abstract
The mound-building termite Macrotermes michaelseni as an ecosystem engineer
J. Mark Dangerfield, T.S. McCarthy, William N. Ellery · 1998 · Journal of Tropical Ecology
Abstract
Many organisms create or alter resource flows that affect the composition and spatial arrangement of current and future organismal diversity. The phenomenon called ecosystem engineering is considered with a case study of the mound building termite Macrotermes michaelseni. It is argued that this species acts as an ecosystem engineer across a range of spatial scales, from alteration of local infiltration rates to the creation of landscape mosaics, and that its impacts accrue because of the initiation of biophysical processes that often include feedback mechanisms. These changes to resource flows are likely to persist for long periods and constrain the biological structure of the habitat. The value of ecosystem engineering is discussed as a holistic way of understanding the complexity of tropical ecology.

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.

Ventilation of the mound

According to the abstract, Turner (2001) used tracer methods to study airflow patterns and rates in the mound and nest of Macrotermes michaelseni and found that, although the mound is a fully closed structure, wind is a significant energy source for nest ventilation; air in the nest is exchanged by tidal flows driven by temporal variation in wind speed and direction, whereas density gradients steep enough to drive bulk flow by natural convection occur only rarely; buoyancy generated by metabolism may interact with wind energy to maintain homeostasis of the mound atmosphere.

Foraging patterns in semi-arid savanna

According to the abstract of Schuurman (2006), who monitored cellulose baits in the wet and dry seasons in the semi-arid savanna of northern Okavango Delta, Botswana, Macrotermes michaelseni foraged continuously at most sites and showed a peak in the early dry season (May–June), which the author linked to the water and energy demands of alate production; during the dry season its frequency at baits was negatively correlated with that of a species of Odontotermes.

References

Literature notes updated: 2026-11-13.

Other species in Macrotermes (56 species)

56 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: Macrotermes michaelseni 米夏埃尔森大白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/macrotermes-michaelseni/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.

BibTeX

@misc{isoptera_macrotermes_michaelseni_2026,
  author       = {班奈特格林},
  title        = {Macrotermes michaelseni: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {2026.10.30},
  howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/macrotermes-michaelseni/},
  note         = {TERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}

RIS

TY  - ELEC
TI  - Macrotermes michaelseni: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)
AU  - 班奈特格林
PY  - 2026
UR  - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/macrotermes-michaelseni/
DO  - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836
ER  -