Parrhinotermes ruiliensis Tsai & Huang, 1982 瑞丽棒鼻白蚁

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 is dimorphic, with a large and a small form; the body is brown, slightly paler anteriorly, the mandibles dark brown and especially dark at the tips, the thorax, abdomen and legs paler. Labrum square, slightly depressed in the middle; mandibles robust and nearly quadrangular, the apical tooth well developed, marginal tooth 1 slightly projecting, marginal tooth 2 smaller, marginal teeth 3 and 4 larger; the right mandible has a very small marginal tooth 1 and a large marginal tooth 2, followed by a rather long smooth surface and a row of masticatory teeth at the base. Pronotum saddle-shaped, sparsely covered with small hairs, the anterior margin concave at the middle, the posterior margin rather straight, the mesonotum and metanotum slightly broader than the pronotum. The major soldier has a short, broad, nearly square head, a round fontanelle opening between the two antennal sockets, a longitudinal groove in front of the opening extending to the labral apex, strong mandibles with two large teeth on the inner margin of the left mandible and two teeth on the right mandible, a short and broad labrum nearly hexagonal with a slightly concave anterior margin bearing a row of brush-like short hairs, and antennae with 16–17 segments. The minor soldier has a narrow and elongate head, slender, straight mandibles that are only slightly curved at the apex, two marginal teeth on the left mandible and one on the right, a narrow and elongate labrum whose sides are contracted into a waist, the labral apex reaching the mandibular apex, and antennae with 13–16 segments.

Alate

The alate head is nearly circular, the fontanelle situated in front of the midpoint of the vertex. The left mandible has three marginal teeth, tooth 2 distinctly shorter than teeth 1 and 3; the right mandible has two marginal teeth, with an additional sub-marginal tooth in front of tooth 1, and the posterior margin of tooth 2 shorter than the molar plate. Labrum broadly rounded, the postclypeus raised with its apex projecting forwards. Antennae with 20–22 segments, segment 3 longer than segment 2. The anterior margin of the pronotum is slightly projecting at the middle, both sides broad anteriorly and narrow posteriorly and continuous with the posterior margin in a semicircle; the posterior margins of the pronotum, mesonotum and metanotum are all nearly straight. Wings rather short and broad, the forewing scale large; the media of the forewing arises independently beyond the basal suture, and the media of the hindwing arises from the radial sector close to the cubitus; transverse veinlets connect the veins into a network.

Worker

The worker is slender and small. The head is flat and oval, slightly contracted anteriorly, widest at the middle, the sides of the posterior part slightly squarish, the posterior margin arcuate and arched backwards; the dorsum of the head is flat without a raised frontal ridge and bears several scattered small bristles, and in many individuals there are two regularly arranged small hairs behind the fontanelle. The fontanelle is minute, oval with a pointed anterior end, situated at one-quarter of the anterior part of the head, with a narrow longitudinal groove in front of it running to the labrum, the sides of the groove slightly raised into ridges and the groove slightly widened in front; the fontanelle gland is stout and not spindle-shaped. The labrum is about 1.3 times as long as wide and covers the dorsal side of the mandibles; the transparent apical region is broad, milky white and semicircular, occupying about one-quarter of the labrum, its anterior margin densely set with short hairs, and a few rather long fine hairs sparsely scattered over the transparent region; the narrow groove in front of the fontanelle crosses the base of the labrum and runs longitudinally through it as far as the base of the transparent region. The mandibles are long and sabre-shaped, slightly upturned dorsally and pointed at the tips; the left mandible has two large marginal teeth at two-fifths from the anterior end, tooth 1 sharp and triangular and larger than tooth 2, and the inner margin of the basal two-fifths is densely set with a row of about ten or more small serrations; the right mandible has only one sharp, angular marginal tooth at one-quarter from the anterior end, and the inner margin of its base is likewise densely set with small serrations. The postmentum is long, its anterior margin projecting at the middle, swollen at about one-third from the front, then gradually narrowing and expanding again near the base, the posterior margin inflected, the anterior half bearing a few fine hairs. Antennae with 13 segments, segment 1 the longest, segment 2 the shortest, segments 3 and 4 slightly longer than segment 2. The pronotum is flat, its anterior margin arched forwards and the posterior margin rather flat.

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Yunnan (Ruili, altitude 1300 m).

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 71 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.