Odontotermes luoyangensis Wang & Li, 1984 洛阳土白蚁

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 reddish brown, the thorax and legs yellow, the abdomen milky white, the mandibles brown with reddish yellow bases. The dorsum of the head smooth, with only a few long setae; the apical setae and the subapical setae of the labrum each one pair and about equal in length, the subapical setae and the setae behind them on both sides progressively shorter and smaller, regularly arranged and set slightly back from the labral margin. Body rather large, the head nearly elongate-oval, the lateral margins slightly arcuate, the posterior margin arcuate. Mandibles rather slender: a tooth on the inner margin of the left mandible at one-third from the anterior end, its apex slightly anterior, the mandibular apex sharp and slightly incurved, the basal notch rather broad; the right mandible has an indistinct minute tooth-like projection near the midpoint of the inner margin and another broad, low small projection near the mandibular base. Postmentum narrow and long with the sides slightly parallel, about 1.49–1.59 times as long as wide, 1.54 times on average. Antennae with 16–17 segments, the basal segment stout, segment 2 rather long, segment 3 or segment 4 the shortest, the terminal segment narrow and pointed and longer than the remaining segments. Pronotum broad, the anterior part narrower and the anterior half markedly upturned; at the junction of the anterior and posterior parts there is an oblique fissure on each side, and the median notch of the anterior margin is deeper than that of the posterior margin.

Alate

Head reddish brown, the mandibles dark brown with orange-yellow bases, the labrum orange-yellow, the pronotum pale reddish brown, the femora yellow, the tibiae pale yellow, the wings greyish black. Body rather large, the head nearly circular and slightly flattened, the ocelli elongate-oval, the compound eyes circular and projecting. Anteclypeus raised; both the anterior and the posterior margin of the postclypeus curve backwards, with a distinct median longitudinal suture; the fontanelle lies in the middle of the dorsum of the head, its small conical projection indistinct; the antennal spot crescent-shaped; antennae with 19 segments, segment 3 slightly short, segments 4 and 5 about equal in length, the basal segment stout and long and the terminal segment rather slender and long. The pronotum is slightly narrower than the head, its anterolateral corners rounded, the anterior margin wavy because of the slightly upturned middle, the median notch distinct, the lateral margins contracting backwards, the posterior margin straight and slightly inflected at the middle. The media of the forewing lies close to the cubitus and branches at about one-half of the wing length; the cubitus arises from the media at the basal suture and has more branches than the media; the media of the hindwing lies between the radial sector and the cubitus, whose branches are fewer. The hind tibia is markedly long.

Worker

Dimorphism indistinct. Head oval, reddish yellow, thorax and legs dull yellow, abdomen yellowish white; antennae with 16–17 segments. Head width 1.26–1.42 mm, pronotal width 0.65–0.72 mm.

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Longmen Xishan, Luoyang, Henan (220 m a.s.l.).

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 270 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.