Stylotermes faveolus 凹胸杆白蚁
- Type locality
- India: Himachal Pradesh: Kulu: Sarvari Village, notified cremation ground area, near Kulu sawmills
- Distribution
- India
List： English (genus page) · 中文 · Español
Summary
Stylotermes faveolus is a species of the genus Stylotermes, in the family STYLOTERMITIDAE. The species was described by Chatterjee & Thakur in 1964; the type locality is India: Himachal Pradesh: Kulu: Sarvari Village, notified cremation ground area, near Kulu sawmills. Distribution: India.
Etymology
Genus name Stylotermes: From Greek stylos (pillar, style) + Latin termes.
Specific epithet faveolus: Latin faveolus (honeycombed)
Taxonomic position
- Family: STYLOTERMITIDAE — 1 genus, 45 species
- Genus: Stylotermes — 45 species
- Type species of the genus: Stylotermes fletcheri
Distribution
- Distribution records: India
The record above follows the wording of the original data; no geocoding or standardized place names have been applied.
Morphology
A species-level description from the original literature has not yet been compiled for this page. Original description: Chatterjee & Thakur, 1964. See the genus page for the genus-level description; this page will be updated after the original text is checked.
Distribution map
No GBIF record with coordinates was found for this species.
Related papers
Cached papers for this genus (matched automatically, for reference); to search this species with its junior synonyms merged in, use the literature search.
- A new species of the genus Stylotermes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)
Abstract
- 9 new species of the genus stylotermes from china isoptera
Abstract
- The trail-following communication in Stylotermes spp. (Blattodea, Isoptera, Stylotermitidae)
Abstract
Stylotermitidae appear peculiar among all termites, feeding in trunks of living trees in South Asia only. The difficulty to collect them limits our ability to study them, and they thus still belong to critically unknown groups in respect to their biology. We used a combined approach of microscopic observations, chemical analysis and behavioural tests, to understand the source and chemical nature of the trail-following pheromone of Stylotermes faveolus from India and S. halumicus from Taiwan. The sternal gland is the exclusive source of the trail-following pheromone in both Stylotermes species. It is located at the 5th abdominal sternite in workers, made of class I, II and III secretory cells. Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry showed a minor peak corresponding to (Z)-dodec-3-en-1-ol (DOE). This compound elicits strong behavioural responses in workers, with a trail-following activity threshold around 10− 4 ng/cm in both species. Based on both chemical analysis and behavioural experiments, we estimated the amount of DOE around 0.1 ng/gland in S. faveolus and we conclude that DOE is the only active component of the trail-following pheromone of both Stylotermes species, like in all Kalotermitidae studied so far. Our results confirm the switch from complex aldehyde trail-following pheromones occurring in the basal groups to simpler linear alcohols in the ancestor of Kalotermitidae and Neoisoptera.
Papers on this species, synonyms included → OpenAlex Google Scholar CNKI
Abstracts come from open metadata; copyright remains with the original authors/publishers. For reference only — please check the original.
Literature notes
Edited notes based on the original literature, not transcriptions. The source markers in each paragraph point to archived records in .sources; full citations are listed below.
Trail pheromone and captive rearing
According to Thakur et al.'s (2023) study of Stylotermes, the family Stylotermitidae contains only the single genus Stylotermes, with about 45 species distributed in India, Bangladesh, China (including Taiwan) and Malaysia; they live inside living tree trunks and feed on living woody tissue, and occur only in South Asia.
Using Stylotermes faveolus from India and Stylotermes halumicus from Taiwan, China, the study found that the sternal gland on the fifth abdominal sternite of workers is the sole source of the trail-following pheromone, the gland consisting of type I, II and III secretory cells; (Z)-dodec-3-en-1-ol (DOE) in the secretion elicits strong trail following by workers, with a behavioural threshold of about 10^-4 ng/cm, and each gland of Stylotermes faveolus contains about 0.1 ng of DOE. The authors consider DOE to be the only active component in both species and, on that basis, support a transition from complex aldehyde pheromones in the basal lineages to simple straight-chain alcohols in the ancestors of Kalotermitidae and Neoisoptera.
According to the abstract, Thakur et al. (2024) further compared the structure of the frontal, labral and labial glands of the soldiers and workers of Stylotermes faveolus and analysed the composition of the frontal-gland secretions of Stylotermes faveolus and Stylotermes halumicus.
According to the abstract, Thakur & Mishra (1996) noted that wood-dwelling termites such as several species of Stylotermes are easier to rear in the laboratory than soil-dwelling species and can be maintained at 28±1°C and 80–90% RH on infested wood segments containing the live nest.
Research notes
According to the abstract, the two nest fragments used by Thakur et al. (2023) in their trail-following pheromone experiments each contained several hundred workers (counted throughout as pseudergates in the broad sense) and several dozen soldiers; the fragment of Stylotermes faveolus was collected in India.
References
- Thakur H., Agarwal S., Hradecký J., et al. The trail-following communication in Stylotermes spp. (Blattodea, Isoptera, Stylotermitidae). 预印本, 2023.
- Thakur H., Agarwal S., Buček A., et al. Defensive glands in Stylotermitidae (Blattodea, Isoptera). Arthropod Structure & Development 79: 101346, 2024.
- Thakur M. L., Mishra S. C. Laboratory culturing of some Indian wood destroying termites. Journal of Entomological Research 20(1): 73–82, 1996.
- Thakur H., Agarwal S., Hradecký J., Sharma G., Li H.-F., Yang S.-E., Sehadová H., Chandel R. S., Hyliš M., Mathur V., Šobotník J., Sillam-Dussès D. 2023 The Trail-Following Communication in Stylotermes faveolus and S. halumicus (Blattodea, Isoptera, Stylotermitidae). Journal of Chemical Ecology 49: 642–651.
Other species in Stylotermes (44 species)
- Stylotermes acrofrons
- Stylotermes ahmadi
- Stylotermes alpinus
- Stylotermes angustignathus
- Stylotermes beesoni
- Stylotermes bengalensis
- Stylotermes chakratensis
- Stylotermes changtingensis
- Stylotermes chengduensis
- Stylotermes chongqingensis
- Stylotermes choui
- Stylotermes crinis
- Stylotermes curvatus
- Stylotermes dunensis
- Stylotermes fletcheri
- Stylotermes fontanellus
- Stylotermes guiyangensis
- Stylotermes halumicus
- Stylotermes hanyuanicus
- Stylotermes inclinatus
- Stylotermes jinyunicus
- Stylotermes labralis
- Stylotermes laticrus
- Stylotermes latilabrum
- Stylotermes latipedunculus
- Stylotermes lianpingensis
- Stylotermes longignathus
- Stylotermes mecocephalus
- Stylotermes minutus
- Stylotermes mirabilis
- Stylotermes orthognathus
- Stylotermes parabengalensis
- Stylotermes planifrons
- Stylotermes robustus
- Stylotermes roonwali
- Stylotermes setosus
- Stylotermes sinensis
- Stylotermes sui
- Stylotermes triplanus
- Stylotermes tsaii
44 species in this genus. See all species on the genus page →
Cite this species
Citation strings are generated from the fields of this page; please keep the DOI and the version number when citing.
GB/T 7714
班奈特格林. Extant Isoptera (termites): a checklist of Latin and Chinese names: Stylotermes faveolus 凹胸杆白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/stylotermes-faveolus/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.
BibTeX
@misc{isoptera_stylotermes_faveolus_2026,
author = {班奈特格林},
title = {Stylotermes faveolus: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
year = {2026},
version = {2026.10.30},
howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/stylotermes-faveolus/},
note = {STYLOTERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}
RIS
TY - ELEC TI - Stylotermes faveolus: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites) AU - 班奈特格林 PY - 2026 UR - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/stylotermes-faveolus/ DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836 ER -