Family MASTOTERMITIDAE

Mastotermes darwiniensis, head of soldier

© Copyright B. Rankin.

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Introduction

This family includes only one living species, Mastotermes darwiniensis, the natural range of which is confined to the Australian tropics. However, fossil mastotermitids have a wide distribution (Kukalová-Peck 1991). Mastotermes presents a combination of characteristics that can be regarded as primitive, linking it with the blattoids—wing structure, tarsal and tibial structure, cyclical development of egg batches, the eggs being laid in pods, and alimentary symbionts—and others that appear to be specialised, such as mandibular structure, caste system and control of caste development (cf. Watson & Abbey 1985). The phylogenetic position of the Mastotermitidae has, as a result, been the subject of dispute, but that is outside the scope of this Catalogue.

Mastotermes darwiniensis is the most destructive Australian termite. The costs of its depredations are low only because it is confined to the tropics. Individual workers are very large termites, weighing 40–50 mg, and colonies can include several million individuals. M. darwiniensis does immense damage to timber in service, to living trees (including forest plantations and orchards), and to synthetic materials such as cable sheaths and pipeline coatings (Watson & Gay 1991).

Diagnosis

Alate: antennae c. 30-segmented; eyes and ocelli large; fontanelle absent; left and right mandibles with two distenct marginal teeth; wing venation reticulate, hindwing lacking humeral suture but with line of weakness that permits dealation, anal lobe present; tarsi 5-segmented, tibial formula 3–4–4; cerci relatively long, indistinctly 5- or 6-segmented, styli present.

Soldier: antennae with 20 or more segments; fontanelle absent; each mandible with a pointed tooth slightly beyond mid-length; pronotum flat, tarsi 5-segmented, tibial formula 3–4–4.

General References

Kukalová-Peck, J. 1991. Fossil history and the evolution of hexapod structures. pp. 141-179 in CSIRO (ed.). The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press Vol. 1 xiii 542 pp.

Watson, J.A.L. & Abbey, H.M. 1985. Development of neotenics in Mastotermes darwiniensis Froggatt: an alternative strategy. pp. 108-124 in Watson, J.A.L., Okot-Kotber, B.M. & Noirot, C. (eds). Caste Differentiation in Social Insects. Oxford : Pergamon Press.

Watson, J.A.L. & Gay, F.J. 1991. Isoptera (Termites). pp. 330-347 in CSIRO (ed.). The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press Vol. 1 2.

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