Reticulitermes pingjiangensis Tsai & Peng, 1983 平江散白蚁

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 orange-yellow, mandibles brownish, antennae and pronotum cream-yellow, head setae moderate. Head capsule rectangular, head-width index 0.57–0.62, lateral margins nearly parallel, slightly narrowed posteriorly, posterior margin slightly rounded. Frontal peaks distinctly raised, shallowly concave between them. Labrum elongate-lanceolate, the anterior part narrowed into a triangle, lateral apical setae absent. Mandibles solid and long, apex slightly curved, mandibular basal ridge visible; length 0.55–0.57 times head capsule length and 0.92–0.98 times head width. Antennae 15–17 segments. Broad region of the postmentum before the anterior sixth; waist region slender and long or broadly arcuate, waist constriction index 0.31–0.35. Pronotum ob-trapezoidal, anterior and posterior margins both shallowly incised in the middle; about 30 setae in the middle region.

Alate

Head capsule of the dealate adult blackish brown; postmentum, labrum and postclypeus brown; anteclypeus white; antennae brown with the basal segment darker; compound eyes black, eye ring and ocelli pale brown; pronotum yellowish grey; femora brown, tibiae yellowish grey, pale brown near the femora. Head capsule nearly circular, slightly longer than wide, frontal region rather flat, fontanelle dot-like, 0.35 mm from the frontal margin, median suture indistinct; in profile the vertex is gently raised above the ocelli, the postclypeus weakly projecting, higher than the ocelli and lower than the vertex. Compound eyes rounded-triangular, protrusion 6%, short diameter slightly greater than the distance from the compound eye to the lower margin of the head. Ocelli circular and slightly flattened, short diameter equal to the ocellus–compound eye distance. Antennae 17 segments. Pronotum 1.47 times as wide as long, anterior margin rather flat, lateral margins gradually narrowing posteriorly, posterior margin distinctly notched in the middle, median emargination index 15%.

Worker

Nymph

Abstract (from the source)

Biology

Distribution and locality

Pingjiang, Xinning and Changsha, Hunan.

Taxonomic notes

The genus name is printed as Reticuliter mes in the original work, a misspelling of Reticulitermes; the species is here placed in Reticulitermes.

Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 187 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.