Species Heterotermes paradoxus (Froggatt, 1898)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Termes paradoxus 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]] [728].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANIC No. 9046 ♀ alate, Mackay, QLD.
  Paralectotype(s) ANIC soldier, worker (type colony); NMV dealates, soldier (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. [128].
• Leucotermes barretti Hill, G.F. 1927. Termites from the Australian region. Part I. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 7: 5-120 pls i-ix [58].

  Type data:

   Lectotype NMV No. T-10846 soldier, Rockhampton, QLD.
  Paralectotype(s) NMV alate (morphotype; headless, wingless); NMV 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. (Hill, G.F. 1927. Termites from the Australian region. Part I. Mem. Natl Mus. Vict. 7: 5–120 pls i–ix did not designate a primary type for this species, but referred to 'Types (imago, soldier and worker) presented to the National Museum of Victoria'. Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [10, 121] excluded L. barretti from consideration because the 'type' [10] or 'holotype' [121] did not belong in Heterotermes (=Leucotermes). We know from Hill's annotation (dated '9.8.38') on his working copy of Hill, G.F. 1927. Termites from the Australian region. Part I. Mem. Natl Mus. Vict. 7: 5–120 pls i–ix, and from a label that he inserted in the vial of types on '14.9.38', that he regarded the imago as being the primary type; but the original specimens remain syntypes. Designation of a lectotype is, therefore, appropriate, and the almost intact soldier is preferable to the broken, indeterminate alate)).

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• 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.

 

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Torres Strait Ils.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NT, Qld, SA, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Gascoyne (GAS), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pilbara (PIL), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, W plateau
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Soil dweller, terrestrial.

Extra Ecological Information

Social, nests subterranean, diet primarily weathered wood.

 

General References

Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [128] (biology)

Roisin, Y. 1988. Morphology, development and evolutionary significance of the working stages in the caste system of Prorhinotermes (Insecta, Isoptera). Zoomorphology (Berlin) 107: 339-347 (biology, castes)

Watson, J.A.L. & Abbey, H.M. 1993. Atlas of Australian Termites. Melbourne & Canberra : Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 158 pp. [39] (distribution)

 

History of changes

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