Subfamily Microcerotermitinae · 锯白蚁亚科

About the subfamily

The subfamily Microcerotermitinae was established by Holmgren in 1910 (Microcerotermitinae Holmgren, 1910) (14), with the type genus Microcerotermes Silvestri, 1901; the subfamily name is derived from the type genus (Greek mikros, small, and cero, horn). It is closely related to the Syntermitinae, but the two cannot be fully confirmed as sister groups. This catalogue includes 2 genera and 150 species.

This subfamily is pantropical in distribution, widespread across the Oriental realm, tropical Africa and the Australian realm among other major regions, while the barb-hook termite genus occurs mainly in the Southern Cone of the Neotropical realm. Its diet is a broad wood-feeding and grass-feeding spectrum, feeding mostly on decayed wood and dry grass at the soil–wood interface; the soldier head is narrow and elongate, without a frontal projection, and the mandibles are of the piercing–hacking type; the soldier bears a small punctiform or slit-like fontanelle at the front of the frons; the mandibles are short and stout, with the apical margin curved inward into a hook, the left mandible bearing a small tooth and the right mandible almost toothless, the antennae 13–14-segmented, and the tibial spur formula 2:2:2; the workers are monomorphic. The nests are mostly small subterranean or surface nests, generally without large conspicuous mounds. (3)

Economically, this subfamily contains several important pests: Microcerotermes diversus is the most destructive pest of structural timber in Iran (59) (Khuzestan Province), Iraq and Oman, and is a major pest of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia; in South America Microcerotermes strunckii is a minor pest of fruit orchards (60), and Microcerotermes arboreus is a minor pest of passion fruit.

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.