Family TERMOPSIDAE

Porotermes adamsoni, head of soldier

© Copyright B. Rankin.

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Introduction

This family includes two Australian genera, Porotermes and Stolotermes, in separate subfamilies, the Porotermitinae and Stolotermitinae. Five Australian species are known, all described. The third termopsid subfamily, the Termopsinae, does not occur naturally in Australia, although species of Zootermopsis are often intercepted during quarantine checks at Australian ports (Gay 1969).

In the Porotermitinae, which contains only the genus Porotermes, the alates have 5-segmented cerci and the soldiers have long, rounded to rectangular heads, and mandibles about a third the length of the head.

In contrast, the Stolotermitinae, containing only the genus Stolotermes, has alates with 4-segmented cerci and soldiers with long, rounded to parallel-sided heads and mandibles at least half as long as the head; the heads and bodies of soldiers and workers are strongly flattened. Both subfamilies show Gondwanan affinities: Porotermes contains three species, in extreme southern Africa, south-eastern Australia and Chile respectively, whereas Stolotermes has one species in South Africa, four in Australia and two in New Zealand.

Termopsid colonies are generally small, although colonies of the Australian species Porotermes adamsoni range up to approximately 60 000 individuals (Lenz 1985). Like those of kalotermitids, the colonies do not require ground connection, but live in damp, often rotted wood above ground, including heartwood in living trees. They are the definitive examples of dampwood termites and, as they nest in their food, we give no formal descriptors for their diet. Their caste development is very flexible. Stolotermes poses no economic problems, and although Porotermes adamsoni damages the heartwood of forest trees and damp wood in buildings, its depredations appear to be more a symptom of pre-existing fungal damage than a primary cause of economic loss (cf. Watson 1988).

Diagnosis

Alate: antennae 15- to 18-segmented; ocelli absent; fontanelle absent; left mandible with three well defined marginal teeth, right mandible with small subsidiary tooth at anterior base of first marginal tooth; pronotum flat, narrower than head; wing venation at most feebly reticulate, scales of forewing larger than those of hind wing; tarsi 4-segmented; tibial formula variable, 2/3–3/4–2/3/4; cerci 4/5-segmented; styli in male only.

Soldier: antennae of 14- to 19-segmented; eyes pigmented; fontanelle absent; mandibles well developed, strongly dentate; pronotum flat, much narrower than head; tarsi 4-segmented, tibial formula 2/3–2/3/4–2/3.

General References

Gay, F.J. 1969. Species introduced by man. pp. 459-494 in Krishna, K. & Weesner, F.M. (eds). Biology of Termites. New York : Academic Press Vol. 1.

Lenz, M. 1985. Is inter- and intraspecific variability of lower termite neotenic numbers due to adaptive thresholds for neotenic elimination? – considerations from studies on Porotermes adamsoni (Froggatt) (Isoptera: Termopsidae). pp. 125-145 in Watson, J.A.L., Okot-Kotber, B.M. & Noirot, C. (eds). Caste Differentiation in Social Insects. Oxford : Pergamon Press.

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

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