Stylotermes tsaii 蔡氏杆白蚁
- Type locality
- China: Sichuan Province: Langzhong
- Distribution
- China
List： English (genus page) · 中文 · Español
Summary
Stylotermes tsaii is a species of the genus Stylotermes, in the family STYLOTERMITIDAE. The species was described by Gao, Zhu, Yang, Ji & Ma in 1982; the type locality is China: Sichuan Province: Langzhong. Distribution: China.
Etymology
Genus name Stylotermes: From Greek stylos (pillar, style) + Latin termes.
Specific epithet tsaii: Named after the Chinese termite taxonomist Pang-hwa Tsai (1902–1983), a founder of Chinese termite studies.
Taxonomic position
- Family: STYLOTERMITIDAE — 1 genus, 45 species
- Genus: Stylotermes — 45 species
- Type species of the genus: Stylotermes fletcheri
Distribution
- Distribution records: China
The record above follows the wording of the original data; no geocoding or standardized place names have been applied.
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
Alate
Head deep yellowish brown; antennae yellowish brown; anteclypeus nearly white, postclypeus and labrum brownish yellow; pronotum yellowish brown, legs brownish yellow; wing membrane transparent with blackish brown veins; abdominal tergites deep brownish yellow. The head is sparsely covered with short hairs mixed with a few long hairs. Head subcircular in dorsal view, the crescent-shaped antennal bands distinct. Compound eyes subcircular, projecting beyond the lateral margins of the head; ocelli elongate-oval, slightly raised, closely adjacent to the compound eyes but not touching, the distance about half the short diameter of the ocellus. Labrum semicircular, slightly wider than long; postclypeus a narrow transverse band; postmentum hourglass-shaped, longer than wide, the lateral margins arcuately projecting. Antennae 17-segmented, segments 2 and 3 smaller, enlarging gradually from segment 4 onwards, fusiform from segment 8 onwards. Left mandible with three marginal teeth, the first smaller than the third and larger than the second; right mandible with two adjacent marginal teeth. Pronotum narrower than the width of the head including the eyes, the median notch of the anterior margin slightly distinct. Forewing slightly longer than the hindwing, the media arising from the humeral suture and unbranched, joining the radial sector but nearer the cubitus; cubitus with about 16 branches.
Worker
Nymph
Abstract (from the source)
Soldier: head dark yellow brown, the capsule elongate and parallel-sided. Fontanelle a small circular pit. Labrum semicircular, wider than long, with long setae. Mandibles stout and sabre-like, the left with a triangular tooth at mid-length. Antennae fourteen segmented. Pronotum saddle-shaped, its anterior margin with a shallow incision. Alate: head dark yellow brown, compound eyes large and protruding, ocelli oval and close to the eyes; wings with the median vein arising from the shoulder suture and the cubitus dividing into about sixteen branches. Recorded from southern China in dead wood.
Biology
Host plant: Phoebe.
Distribution and locality
Langzhong, Sichuan (altitude 480 m).
Taxonomic notes
Source: Huang Fusheng et al. (2000), Fauna Sinica, Insecta vol. 17, Isoptera, Science Press. (entry no. 247 in the original work) Entries are cited by their number in the original work.
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.
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 faveolus
- 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
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 tsaii 蔡氏杆白蚁[EB/OL]. Version 2026.10.30. https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/stylotermes-tsaii/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836.
BibTeX
@misc{isoptera_stylotermes_tsaii_2026,
author = {班奈特格林},
title = {Stylotermes tsaii: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites)},
year = {2026},
version = {2026.10.30},
howpublished = {https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/stylotermes-tsaii/},
note = {STYLOTERMITIDAE; version 2026.10.30; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23646836},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23646836}
}
RIS
TY - ELEC TI - Stylotermes tsaii: a checklist of extant Isoptera (termites) AU - 班奈特格林 PY - 2026 UR - https://termite-extant-isoptera.org/en/species/stylotermes-tsaii/ DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23646836 ER -