Subfamily Cylindrotermitinae · 圆筒白蚁亚科

About the subfamily

The subfamily Cylindrotermitinae was established by Hellemans, Engel and Bourguignon in 2024 (21), with the type genus Cylindrotermes Holmgren, 1906; the subfamily name is derived from the type genus, referring to the elongate, cylindrical head and body (Greek kylindros, cylinder). This catalogue includes 2 genera and 9 species.

The two genera show a transatlantic disjunct distribution: the genus Cephalotermes Silvestri is an Afrotropical genus, with the rectangular-headed termite widespread from West and Central Africa to East Africa; the genus Cylindrotermes Holmgren is a Neotropical genus, all 8 of its species occurring in the Neotropical realm. Both genera are wood-feeders, and the worker mandibles are of the typical wood-feeding type: Cephalotermes builds mound nests with large colonies, the nest often containing a pair of primary reproductives and a queen with a greatly swollen abdomen; Cylindrotermes lives in dead wood and forms smaller colonies. Morphologically, the soldier head is long and subrectangular, without a frontal projection, the body surface is covered with short setae, and the mandibles are short and stout, of the biting–hacking type; the worker ileum (P1) is a long tube that forms a ventral loop beneath the rectum, and the enteric valve bears six unequal pads, by which these taxa can be distinguished from related groups. The apical tooth of the worker left mandible is about equal to or shorter than the first and second marginal teeth, and the third marginal tooth is well developed; in Cephalotermes the queen with the greatly swollen abdomen gradually loses the ability to walk as the colony matures (known only from mound colonies of Cephalotermes). Phylogenomic evidence from 2024 shows that the two form an independent monophyletic clade, representing a narrowly distributed relict group within the family that is non-basal in position yet highly disjunct in distribution. Economically, Cylindrotermes nordenskioeldi has been judged harmful in sugarcane fields of northeastern Brazil (51).

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.