Reticulitermes chinensis Snyder, 1923 黑胸散白蚁

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 yellowish brown, mandibles reddish brown, the pilosity of the head capsule sparse. The head capsule is rectangular, the head width index 0.59–0.64; the two margins are parallel to each other, the posterior lateral corners slightly rounded, the posterior margin nearly straight. The frontal region is either flat or slightly raised. The labrum is spear-shaped with a pointed and rounded apex, the labral apex of the paratype being bluntly rounded and possibly incomplete; with apical and subapical hairs, the lateral-apical hairs reduced or absent. The mandibles are somewhat stout, their apices slightly curved; the mandibular length about 0.57–0.64 times the head capsule length and about 0.97–1.00 times the head width. Antennae with 16–18 segments. The broad region of the postmentum lies between the anterior quarter and the anterior one-fifth, the anterolateral margins nearly trapezoidal, the waist region rather slender with the sides nearly in a broad arc, the waist constriction index 0.27–0.32. The pronotum is trapezoidal, 1.64–1.73 times as wide as long, the anterior and posterior margins nearly straight, the middle of the anterior margin shallowly concave, with about six hairs in the middle region.

Alate

The alate head capsule and pronotum are deep chestnut brown, the paratype decolourised with age to a yellowish brown; the postmentum is concolorous with the head capsule, the labrum and postclypeus paler than the head capsule, the femoral segments concolorous with the head capsule and the tibiae paler. The head capsule is circular, the fontanelle dot-like, 0.50 mm from the anterior frontal margin. The compound eyes are nearly circular, the projection rate 7 per cent, the distance from the compound eye to the lower margin of the head distinctly less than the short diameter of the compound eye. The ocelli are nearly circular, the ocellus-compound eye distance about half the ocellar diameter. Antennae with 17–18 segments. The dorsal margin of the head arches gently, the postclypeus distinctly projecting and slightly lower than the vertex but higher than the ocelli. The pronotum is about 1.55 times as wide as long, the anterior margin with a broad V-shaped shallow notch, the middle of the posterior margin shallowly concave; the forewing 6.75–7.00 mm long and 1.90 mm wide.

Worker

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Sichuan and elsewhere.

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 106 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.