Species Coptotermes frenchi Hill, 1932

Museums

Regional Maps

• Coptotermes frenchi Hill, G.F. 1932. Australian termites (Isoptera). Biological notes and descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ns 44: 134-154 [142] [nom. nov. for Coptotermes flavus Hill, 1926].
• Coptotermes flavus Hill, G.F. 1926. Australian termites (Isoptera). Notes on Stolotermes, Calotermes, and Coptotermes, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ns 38: 192-214 [207] [junior homonym of Coptotermes flavus Bugnion & Popoff, 1910].

  Type data:

   Lectotype NMV No. T-10844 ♂ alate, Melbourne, VIC (label with lectotype and morphotypes indicates Hawthorn, a Melbourne suburb).
  Paralectotype(s) NMV soldier, worker (morphotypes, not from type colony); NMV soldiers, workers (not from 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. [152].
• Coptotermes labiosus Hill, G.F. 1926. Australian termites (Isoptera). Notes on Stolotermes, Calotermes, and Coptotermes, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ns 38: 192-214 [213] [this taxon may be a valid species; its status is the subject of current research, L. Miller, this work].

  Type data:

   Lectotype SAMA No. Is.41.001 ♀ alate, Barton, SA.
  Paralectotype(s) SAMA soldier plus workers (morphotype, type colony; material dried out at some stage); NMV alate, soldier, workers (type colony).

  Subsequent designation references:

  Watson, J.A.L., Miller, L.R. & Abbey, H.M. 1998. Isoptera. pp. 163-250 in Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Archaeognatha, Zygentoma, Blattodea, Isoptera, Mantodea, Dermaptera, Phasmatodea, Embioptera, Zoraptera. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 23 xiii 464 pp.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [149]

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Apparently a complex of species.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau

Ecological Descriptors

Soil dweller, terrestrial.

Extra Ecological Information

Social, nests in tree trunks, mounds 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 [311, 317-319, 325-326] (cuticular hydrocarbons, species complex)

Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [151-152] (biology, importance)

Watson, J.A.L. 1988. Termites in the Canberra Region. 2nd Edn. Canberra : Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation viii 63 pp. (biology, importance)

Watson, J.A.L. & Abbey, H.M. 1993. Atlas of Australian Termites. Melbourne & Canberra : Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 158 pp. [34] (distribution)

 

History of changes

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