Nasutitermes moratus Silvestri, 1914 拖延象白蚁

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 of the soldier yellow, nasus reddish brown, abdomen pale yellow. Surface of the head covered with fine short hairs, the abdominal tergites also with fine short hairs, the sparse hairs arranged along the posterior margin of each tergite, the hairs of the sternites longer. Head nearly circular, length and width almost equal; nasus a slender tube more than half the head length, in lateral view the vertex and the nasus almost forming a straight line, the nasus not turned up; the anterolateral corner of the mandibles with a pointed spine. Antennae with 13 segments, segment 2 shorter than segment 3. The width of the pronotum about half the head length, its anterior part inclined backwards, meeting the posterior part at an angle of less than 90 degrees. Abdomen slender.

Alate

Head of the alate and the dorsum of the thorax and abdomen brown, postclypeus yellow, antennae and ventral surface of the abdomen brownish yellow, wings brown. Body densely covered with hairs, the wing membrane hairless, with sparse short hairs only at the wing apex. Head very broad, the posterior margin circular; postclypeus slightly arched, the anterior and posterior margins both straight, its length only one quarter of its width; compound eyes large and round, ocelli large, elliptical, the ocellus-compound eye distance equal to or slightly greater than the width of the ocellus; vertex concave, fontanelle small as a dot, a further band-like spot in the middle of the concavity of the vertex. Antennae with 15 segments, segments 2, 3 and 4 almost equal in length. Pronotum broad anteriorly and narrow posteriorly, the anterior margin curved or depressed, without a median notch, the anterolateral corners blunt, the posterior margin concave in the middle. Media of the forewing arising independently at the humeral suture, closer to the cubitus than to the radial sector, ending in three to four branches, the cubitus with more than ten branches; media of the hindwing arising together with the radial sector at the humeral suture, the remaining venation as in the forewing.

Worker

Head of the worker deep yellow, thorax and abdomen pale yellow. Head nearly circular, postclypeus slightly arched, the dorsum of the head with a T-shaped suture, antennae with 14 to 15 segments, segment 2 equal to or longer than segment 3. Anterior part of the pronotum erect. Smaller individuals paler than the large ones, the cephalic sutures indistinct, the head rather square, the length of the postclypeus about one third of its width.

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Changting, Fujian; Jiangxi; Nanxi, Hekou, Yunnan (90 m above sea level), Dawei Mountains, Pingbian (1500 m above sea level) and Xishuangbanna.

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 426 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.