Odontotermes pujiangensis Fan, 1988 浦江土白蚁

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 brownish yellow, the mandibles purplish brown with bases approaching the colour of the head, the antennae paler than the head, the thorax, abdomen and appendages yellow. Long setae on the head rare, the post-antennal setae one on each side and rather long; long setae sparsely scattered over the anterior and posterior parts of the postmentum; the periphery and the posterior part of the pronotum with rather numerous long bristles. Head broadly oval, the lateral margins almost parallel, slightly broader posteriorly. Mandibles robust, the apices rather curved; the tooth of the left mandible triangular, situated on the inner margin near one-third from the anterior end, its apex directed forwards, with another fine tooth in the notch in front of the mandibular base; the right mandible has a small tooth slightly behind the corresponding position of the left marginal tooth, and a minute tooth both at the base and slightly in front of it. Labrum broadly lingulate. Antennae with 17 segments, segment 3 the smallest, segment 4 square and larger than segment 3, segment 5 slightly smaller than segment 4 and almost equal to segment 3, the following segments slightly enlarging, the terminal segment oval. Postmentum almost twice as long as wide, widest near the posterior end. Pronotum saddle-shaped, its anterior and posterior lobes almost equal in length; the middle of the anterior margin deeply incised, whereas the median depression of the posterior margin is broad and shallow.

Alate

Worker

Body yellowish white, the head slightly darker and greyish yellow; the bristles of the vertex of medium length and rather dense, the pilosity behind the head and at the sides sparser. Head nearly square and flattened, the lateral margins rather straight, the posterior corners broadly rounded and continuous with the posterior margin in a broad arc. The apical tooth of the left mandible slightly shorter than the first marginal tooth, the second marginal tooth reduced and very broad and low, the third and fourth marginal teeth shorter; the apical tooth of the right mandible almost as large as the first marginal tooth but slightly shorter, the second marginal tooth broad and short; the anterior cutting edge much shorter than the posterior cutting edge, the latter about 3.5 times the former; the molar plate surface bears seven transverse ridges. Antennae with 17–18 segments; with 17 segments segment 3 is the shortest, with 18 segments segment 4 is the shortest, segment 2 about equal in length to segments 3 and 4 together. The fontanelle lies in the middle of the vertex and is a small circular shallow depression, indistinct. In lateral view the postclypeus rises high, its length only half its width, with a median longitudinal groove. The pronotum is saddle-shaped, the anterior lobe slightly longer than the posterior lobe; the middle of the anterior margin deeply concave, the notch of the posterior margin shallow and broad. The hind tibia is shorter than the head width.

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Pujiang, Zhejiang.

Taxonomic notes

Owing to a line break in the original work, the scientific name was divided as Odontotermespujiangen sis; it is in fact Odontotermes pujiangensis, the genus name being unchanged.

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 272 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.