Subspecies Coptotermes acinaciformis acinaciformis (Froggatt, 1898)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Termes acinaciformis Froggatt, W.W. 1898. Australian Termitidae. Part III. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 22: 721-758 pls xxxiv-xxxv [date on journal 1897, actual date of publication 4 June, 1898 Musgrave, A. 1932. Bibliography of Australian Entomology 1775–1930 with Biographical Notes on Authors and Collectors. Sydney : Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales viii 380 pp. [103]] [740].

  Type data:

   Lectotype AMNH alate ♂, Halls Creek (as Hall's Creek), Kimberley, WA.
  Paralectotype(s) AMNH soldier (morphotype, type colony); ANIC alate(s), soldier(s) (type colony; cannot be located); NMV ♂ alate, ♀ alate, soldiers, worker (type colony).

  Subsequent designation references:

  Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [147].

 

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Unknown from alpine regions and rain forest, apparently a complex of species.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • New South Wales: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, N coastal, W plateau
  • Queensland: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau

Ecological Descriptors

Soil dweller, terrestrial.

Extra Ecological Information

Social, nests in mounds, tree trunks and buildings, or subterranean, diet includes sound timber in service, major economic importance.

 

General References

Brown, W.V., Watson, J.A.L., Carter, F.L., Lacey, M.J., Barrett, R.A. & McDaniel, C.A. 1990. Preliminary examination of cuticular hydrocarbons of worker termites as chemotaxonomic characters for some Australian species of Coptotermes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Sociobiology 16: 305-328 [319-324] (biology, cuticular hydrocarbons, species complex)

Calaby, J.H. & Gay, F.J. 1956. The distribution and biology of the genus Coptotermes (Isoptera) in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 4: 19-39 [20-30] (biology, distribution)

Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [159-161] (biology, importance)

Watson, J.A.L. & Abbey, H.M. 1993. Atlas of Australian Termites. Melbourne & Canberra : Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 158 pp. [32] (distribution)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		12-Feb-2010	(import)