Reticulitermes conus Xia & Fan, 1981 锥颚散白蚁

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

Head pale chestnut brown, mandibles purplish brown, the pilosity of the head capsule very sparse. The head capsule is rectangular, the head width index 0.63–0.66, the sides parallel, the middle of the posterior margin slightly projecting. The frons is flat. The labrum is sharply spear-shaped, the semi-transparent apical region short and needle-like, the apical hairs present, the subapical hairs almost indistinguishable, the lateral-apical hairs fine and short. The anterior part of the mandibles is rather slender, the apices rather straight, the base stout and conical; the mandibular length 0.58–0.61 times the head capsule length and 0.90–0.95 times the head width. The antennae are incomplete. The broad region of the postmentum lies at the anterior one-fifth, the anterolateral margins trapezoidal and expanding posteriorly, the waist region rather slender with the sides in a broad arc, the waist constriction index 0.30–0.31. The pronotum is nearly trapezoidal, 1.64–1.67 times as wide as long, the anterior margin straight with a shallow median notch, the middle of the posterior margin slightly concave, with four to six hairs in the middle region.

Alate

Head capsule pale blackish brown; the postmentum and femoral segments concolorous with the head capsule, the pronotum blackish brown; the labrum, postclypeus, antennae and antennal spots pale chestnut brown; the tibiae greyish yellow, the wing membrane pale brown. The head capsule is circular, the fontanelle dot-like, 0.50 from the anterior frontal margin. The compound eyes are nearly circular, the projection rate 10 per cent, their distance from the lower margin of the head shorter, about 0.55 of their long diameter. The ocelli are nearly circular, their long diameter about three times the ocellus-compound eye distance. The vertex is arching like a mound, the postclypeus weakly projecting, lower than the vertex and about level with the ocelli. The antennae are incomplete. The pronotum is nearly trapezoidal, the anterior margin straight, the posterior margin formed by two intersecting arcs, the median notch rather deep. The forewing is broken, 1.84 mm wide; the hindwing 6.43 mm long and 1.84 mm wide, the cubitus with ten branches.

Worker

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Emeishan, Sichuan.

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 111 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.