Subfamily Sphaerotermitinae · 圆球白蚁亚科

About the subfamily

The subfamily Sphaerotermitinae was established by Engel and Krishna in 2004 (73), with the type genus Sphaerotermes Holmgren, 1911; the subfamily name is derived from the type genus name (Greek sphaira, “ball”); the specific name of its only species, S. sphaerothorax (Sjöstedt, 1911), also refers to its globular thorax. This catalogue includes 1 genera and 1 species.

This subfamily is endemic to the Afrotropical realm (West–Central Africa), and its only species ranges across the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Guinea and Nigeria, with field sampling concentrated in the lowland rainforests of Cameroon. Biologically it is extremely distinctive: the species builds epigeal mound nests, but instead of cultivating the fungus combs seen in Macrotermitinae, it cultivates a bacteria-rich “comb” as food; the nest is built from a mixture of clay and fine sand and is compact in structure. Morphologically, the soldier has a broadly rounded head on both sides, a small and inconspicuous fontanelle located in the middle of the head capsule; the labrum is rounded on the sides with a hyaline tip at the front; the left mandible bears several fine teeth and one blunt tooth near the base, while the inner margin of the right mandible is smooth and toothless; the pronotum is much narrower than the head, with straight anterior and lateral margins lacking protruding spines. In the worker, the molar plate of the right mandible bears 6–7 ridges, the labrum is wholly sclerotized without the transverse sclerotized band seen in Macrotermitinae, and the postclypeus is strongly elevated with a median longitudinal line; at the junction of its P3 (paunch) and P4 (colon) there are conspicuous posteriorly directed setae, a condition unique among termites. In the alate, the fontanelle is pale and small, like a dot. Phylogenetically, several molecular analyses show that this subfamily is the sister group of Macrotermitinae, occupying a key position in the early diversification of the higher termites and being of great significance for understanding the evolution of feeding habits in the higher termites. Ecologically, its mounds are one of the main resources exploited by the “termite-fishing” behavior of chimpanzees in the rainforests of Cameroon (74).

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.