Reticulitermes leptomandibularis Hsia & Fan, 1965 细颚散白蚁

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 yellowish brown, mandibles reddish brown, the pilosity of the head capsule sparse. The head capsule is rectangular, the head width index 0.53–0.62, the sides nearly parallel, the middle of the posterior margin straight, the posterolateral corners slightly rounded. The frontal ridge is slightly raised, a slight depression between the two ridges. The labrum is sharply spear-shaped, its apical transparent region needle-like, the apical and subapical hairs both present, the lateral-apical hairs absent. The mandibles appear rather slender and straight, their apices slender and pointed and slightly curved; the mandibular length 0.60–0.61 times the head capsule length and 1.00–1.02 times the head width. Antennae with 15–16 segments. The broad region at the anterior end of the postmentum lies at the anterior one-sixth, the anterolateral margins expanding posteriorly in a trapezium, the middle slightly concave; the waist region slender and long with the sides parallel, the waist constriction index 0.25–0.33. The pronotum is trapezoidal, about 1.56–1.61 times as wide as long, the anterior and posterior margins nearly straight with a shallow median notch in each, with about six hairs in the middle region.

Alate

Head capsule chestnut brown, the pronotum concolorous but deeper; the postmentum and femoral segments nearly brown but paler; the tibiae pale yellow; the labrum and postclypeus pale brown; the wings pale brown. The head capsule is nearly circular, the fontanelle dot-like, about 0.48 mm from the anterior frontal margin. The compound eyes are nearly circular, the projection rate 8–10 per cent, their short diameter distinctly greater than the distance from the compound eye to the lower margin of the head. The ocelli are long-oval, the long diameter twice the ocellus-compound eye distance. The dorsal margin of the head is mound-like, the postclypeus weakly projecting, lower than the vertex and about level with the ocelli. Antennae with 17 segments. The pronotum is trapezoidal, 1.47–1.58 times as wide as long, the anterior margin straight with a shallow median notch, the middle of the posterior margin fork-shaped notched. The forewing 6.81–6.88 mm long and 1.90 mm wide; the hindwing 6.51–6.58 mm long and 1.84 mm wide, the cubitus with about nine to eleven branches.

Worker

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

It damages the timber structures of buildings.

Distribution and locality

Yongan and elsewhere in Fujian; also recorded from Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hunan and Hainan.

Taxonomic notes

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 129 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.