Nasutitermes takasagoensis Nawa, 1911 高砂象白蚁

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 brownish yellow, thorax and abdomen dull yellow. Head almost bare, or with two to three scattered long hairs; the dorsum of the abdomen with a few short hairs, each segment with two to four additional long hairs, the ventral surface with slightly more hairs. Head nearly circular, fontanelle small, slit-like, situated in the centre of the head, slightly depressed around it. Antennae with 14 to 16 segments, in the 16-segmented form segment 3 shortest and segment 4 shorter than segment 2. Labrum with length and width similar, widest at the middle; postclypeus more than twice as wide as long, the posterior margin bowing backwards, the median suture distinct. Anterior margin of the pronotum nearly straight, the median notch indistinct, the posterior margin concave in the middle.

Alate

Head dark brown with the frons paler, antennae, labrum and postclypeus yellow; pronotum yellow or mottled with brown, mesonotum and metanotum pale, abdominal tergites and sternites yellow, legs yellow; wings yellowish brown and semi-transparent, the veins dark brown. The surface of the head densely hairy, the long and short hairs of the pronotum both dense. Compound eyes large, ocelli elongate-oval, the distance between the two shorter than the width of the ocellus. Media of the forewing close to the cubitus, with a fine branch connecting to the radial sector, dividing into two to four branches near the wing apex; cubitus situated in the middle of the wing, with eight to 14 branches; media of the hindwing arising from the base of the radial sector; femora about twice as wide as the tibiae.

Worker

Head brownish yellow, the dorsum with a pale T-shaped cephalic suture, abdomen greyish white mottled with pale yellow. The head and dorsum of the abdomen with very few hairs, the abdomen with more. Head shape between square and round, the fontanelle behind the intersection of the T-shaped suture; postclypeus arched, about one third as long as wide. Antennae with 13 to 14 segments, in the large form segments 2 and 3 about equal in length and segment 3 two to three times as long as segment 4, in the medium form segments 3 and 4 equal in length. Anterior half of the pronotum high and erect, the median notch of the anterior margin distinct.

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Hengchun, Taiwan; Xishuangbanna, Yunnan.

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 435 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.