Species Microcerotermes distinctus Silvestri, 1909

Museums

Regional Maps

• Microcerotermes distinctus Silvestri, F. 1909. Isoptera. 279-314 pls xvi-xxi in Michaelsen, W. & Hartmeyer, R. (eds). Die Fauna Südwest-Australiens. Jena : G. Fischer Vol. 2. [303] [Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [429] and Snyder, T.E. 1949. Catalog of the termites (Isoptera) of the world. Smithson. Misc. Coll. 112: 1–490 [137] claimed that the 'Holotype' soldier is in NHRM. According to Weidner, H. 1955. Die Typen der Isoptera-Sammlung des Zoologischen Staatsinstituts und Zoologischen Museums Hamburg. Insectes Sociaux 2: 247–254 [250], the only material of M. distinctus in NHRM was collected and determined by Mjöberg, and the type material is, in fact, in ZMH].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ZMH soldier, Coolgardie, WA.
  Paralectotype(s) ZMH workers (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. [429].

 

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Groote Eylandt.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

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), 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), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), 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), 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), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

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

Ecological Descriptors

Soil dweller, terrestrial.

Extra Ecological Information

Social, nests in mounds, in the mounds of other termites, and subterranean, diffuse, diet weathered wood, plant detritus, dry dung.

 

General References

Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [429] (biology)

Perry, D.H., Watson, J.A.L., Bunn, S.E. & Black, R. 1985. Guide to the termites (Isoptera) from the extreme south-west of Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 67: 66-78 [75] (biology)

Watson, J.A.L. & Abbey, H.M. 1993. Atlas of Australian Termites. Melbourne & Canberra : Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 158 pp. [119] (distribution)

 

History of changes

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