Nasutitermes vallis Tsai & Huang, 1979 山谷象白蚁

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

The soldier occurs in large, medium and small forms. Large form: head yellow, nasus yellow tinged with brown; the dorsum of the head almost bare, usually with a pair of long hairs posteriorly, the tip of the nasus sparsely covered with bristles, the pronotum with few hairs, the abdominal tergites also with few hairs, the sternites with fine hairs. Head wider than long, broadly circular, the sides bulging roundly, the posterior margin broadly rounded; antennae with 13 segments, segment 3 twice as long as segment 2 or longer; the pointed spine of the mandibles very small. Pronotum saddle-shaped, the anterior half erect; tibial spur formula 2:2:2, tarsi 4-segmented. Small form paler than the large form, head slender and pointed, antennae with 11 segments, segment 3 longer than segment 4, segments 2 and 4 almost equal in length.

Alate

Head deep brown, compound eyes black, antennae yellowish brown, labrum and clypeus deep yellow; pronotum concolorous with the head. Head nearly circular, compound eyes oval, large and protruding, ocelli oval and also protruding; fontanelle oval with an apical fork, postclypeus arched, three to four times as wide as long. Antennae with 15 segments. The apical tooth of the left mandible larger than the first marginal tooth, the cutting edge between the marginal teeth straight, the second marginal tooth of the left mandible reduced and merged with the posterior cutting edge of the first marginal tooth; the second marginal tooth of the right mandible close to the first marginal tooth; molar plate with eight to nine ridges. The pronotum slightly arched in the middle near the anterior margin, the anterior margin straight and without a depression, the middle of the posterior margin slightly concave. Tibial spur formula 2:2:2, tarsi 4-segmented. Head and pronotum densely covered with soft hairs mixed with a few long ones, the long hairs on the margin of the pronotum more numerous than those on the head.

Worker

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Maliweng and Ani Bridge, Motuo, Tibet.

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 439 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.