Subfamily Apicotermitinae · 尖白蚁亚科

About the subfamily

The subfamily Apicotermitinae was established by Grassé and Noirot in 1955 in their work on Apicotermes arquieri (41); the type genus is Apicotermes Holmgren, 1911, from which the subfamily name is derived. This checklist includes 68 genera and 241 species.

This subfamily is the principal home of the soldierless groups among the higher termites: the great majority of species independently lost the soldier caste in the course of evolution (in at least two independent events), with only a few relatively basal genera retaining soldiers. The few genera that retain soldiers are all restricted to the Afrotropical and Oriental realms: the Afrotropical realm has Machadotermes, Jugositermes, Phoxotermes, Rostrotermes, Coxotermes, Eburnitermes, and others, while the Oriental realm has Indotermes and Eurytermes; all known Neotropical species are soldierless. In those groups that retain soldiers, the soldier mandibles are short and stout, of the piercing–cutting type, and the mandibles of Machadotermes soldiers are the shortest in the whole subfamily; the abdomens of the soldiers of Eburnitermes, Indotermes, and Eurytermes are milky white because they are fed solely on worker saliva (white-gut soldiers). In the worker, the apical tooth and the first marginal tooth of the left mandible are large and project clearly above the line joining the third marginal tooth and the molar prominence, and an accessory (fourth) marginal tooth is visible above the molar prominence; the apical tooth of the right mandible is longer than the first marginal tooth — this is the common mandibular outline of workers of this subfamily, whereas generic identification still depends on details of the enteric valve. Feeding is mainly geophagous (on humus), although not all species are soil-feeders: for example, Ruptitermes arboreus of the genus Ruptitermes and Indotermes feed on a broader range of substrates (including leaf litter). This subfamily builds diffuse subterranean nests and leads a concealed existence, and taxonomic identification has long relied on worker enteric-valve morphology and molecular sequences. Three faunal regions are clearly recognizable: the Afrotropical realm (West, Central, East, and southern Africa) has the most species, followed by the Oriental realm, and the Neotropical realm also has representatives. Mitochondrial phylogenetic and biogeographic studies confirm that this subfamily is monophyletic, originated in the Afrotropical realm, and subsequently dispersed separately into the Oriental and Neotropical realms (21). Economically, damage has been recorded for the Neotropical genus Anoplotermes in this subfamily: Anoplotermes in the rhizosphere of upland rice in Brazil was identified for the first time as a pest of upland rice (42); Anoplotermes pacificus in Minas Gerais damages eucalyptus seedlings (43); and Aparatermes abbreviatus damages pasture and eucalyptus roots (44).

This section is the standing account the site maintains for this rank and is updated on this page as the classification is revised; the checklist index is in the Checklist.