Subfamily Nasutitermitinae · 象白蚁亚科

About the subfamily

The subfamily Nasutitermitinae was established by Hare in 1937 ('Termite phylogeny as evidenced by soldier mandible development', p. 462) (63), with the type genus Nasutitermes Dudley, 1890; the subfamily name is derived from the type genus, Nasutitermes being a combination of the Latin nasus (nose) and termes, referring to the conical nasus into which the front of the soldier head is prolonged. This catalogue includes 81 genera and 606 species.

This subfamily has the nasute soldier as a synapomorphy: the front of the head capsule is prolonged into a conical nasus, through which the frontal-gland secretion is ejected for defence, while the mandibles are markedly reduced and no longer used for biting, making this a lineage with highly specialized defence within the family. The frontal-gland secretion consists mainly of monoterpene resins, which are ejected through the nasus and congeal into a sticky substance on contact with air, also serving as an alarm pheromone; its detailed composition varies among genera and species, for example the secretion of Tenuirostritermes tenuirostris contains about 62% pinene, 27% myrcene and 11% limonene (64). The workers are monomorphic, with a distinctly raised postclypeus; the sclerotized structure of the enteric valve varies among genera, and in the genus Nasutitermes the enteric valve is composed of three pairs of pad-like folds whose surface is covered with circular scales. The alates have distinct ocelli and large compound eyes. The diet includes wood-feeding, leaf-litter feeding, soil-humus feeding and feeding on epiphytic algae, among others; nests include arboreal carton nests, subterranean nests and hard surface mounds. The subfamily is pantropical in distribution, with the highest diversity in the Neotropical and Afrotropical realms.

Economically, this subfamily is an important pest group of tropical timber structures and economic forest trees: the Ceylon nasute termite N. ceylonicus damages coconut trunks in Sri Lanka (65), and N. matangensis damages the timber of traditional residential buildings in Indonesia. Among them, Nasutitermes corniger is naturally distributed in Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and the islands of the West Indies, and introduction records document its entry into the Bahamas, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and the United States; in 2001 this species established in Florida the first non-native field population of a termitid (Termitidae) in the United States (4, 66), with a diet spanning crops, orchards, garden plants, and structural timber. Sinonasutitermes and Xiaitermes damage structural timber in China (67); Trinervitermes damages pasture and eucalyptus seedlings in Africa and India (10, 68); Tumulitermes damages pasture in Australia; and Hospitalitermes monoceros is a major pest of sugarcane in India and Sri Lanka (69).

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.