Prorhinotermes hainanensis Ping & Xu, 1989 海南原鼻白蚁

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

Soldier head capsule orange-yellow, mandibles purplish brown and slightly translucent, mandibular bases yellowish brown, labrum pale yellow with the posterior half brownish, antennae pale yellowish brown with the apices of the segments slightly paler, the anteclypeus, frontal gland pore and compound eyes nearly pale yellowish white, the thorax, abdomen and legs pale yellowish brown. The body surface is sparsely covered with hairs; the hairs on the periphery of the pronotum are scattered, with two in the middle region. The outline of the head capsule is nearly trapezoidal, the sides gradually expanding posteriorly, the posterior margin broadly rounded and projecting, the widest point near the posterolateral corners of the head. Labrum lingulate, its lateral margins translucent, the apex truncate or slightly concave, the two apical hairs projecting forwards; anteclypeus membranous, postclypeus trapezoidal. Mandibles sabre-like, their apices slender and slightly curved, with a mandibular condyle, the inner margin rather straight and almost smooth. Antennae with 17–20 segments, segment 2 or 4 rather short, the compound eyes large and bulging. The frontal gland pore is circular and lies in front of two-fifths of the anterior part of the head, the longitudinal groove in front of the pore about twice as wide as the pore; in lateral view the posterior margin of the pore is distinctly raised, the median line of the vertex behind the pore is straight, and the frontal slope in front of the pore forms an angle of about 30 degrees with the postclypeus. The broad region of the postmentum lies at the anterior one-fifth, the lateral margins of the anterior half almost parallel and then expanding, the surface of the postmentum shallowly concave in an arc in the middle, the waist behind the middle. The pronotum is kidney-shaped, the middle of the anterior margin with a broad V-shaped shallow notch, the lateral margins almost parallel, the posterolateral corners broadly rounded, the posterior margin almost straight, the periphery upturned; the mesonotum is slightly broader than the metanotum.

Alate

Worker

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

In the records from Hainan it damages various trees, including tamarind, beefwood, flamboyant and coral tree.

Distribution and locality

Hainan (Yaxian).

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 66 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.