Species Amitermes meridionalis (Froggatt, 1898)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Termes meridionalis 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]] [726].

  Type data:

   Neotype ANIC No. 9077 soldier, About 12 miles (19 km) S Port Darwin, NT.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [336] (Hill, G.F. 1927. Termites from the Australian region. Part I. Mem. Natl Mus. Vict. 7: 5–120 pls i–ix [336] briefly mentioned a series of A. meridionalis, in poor condition, from the Froggatt collection. This series (ANIC series No. 10 17713) contains soldiers, workers and nymphs and bears the labels 'Termes meridionalis Frogga' (end of label missing) and '8. Magnetic nest termite Pt Darwin'. There is no label to indicate if the specimens are types; there is no mention of collector (Froggatt, 1898, named the collectors); nor did Froggatt (1898) mention nymphs, only that 'Mr. Holtze . . . kindly sent me soldiers and workers taken direct from the nests' at 'Palmerston, Port Darwin'. It is not certain if these specimens from the Froggatt collection were syntypes. Hill therefore designated a 'holoneotype' soldier from more recent material collected at the same locality. Neotype retained, see ICZN 1995. Opinion 1808. Mastotermes darwiniensis Froggatt, 1897 and Termes meridionalis Froggatt, 1898 (currently Amitermes meridionalis) (Insecta, Isoptera): neotypes retained following rediscovery of syntypes. Bull. Zool. Nomen. 52(2): 206–207).

  Type locality references:

  Hill, G.F. 1935. Australian Hamitermes (Isoptera), with descriptions of new species and hitherto undescribed castes. Pamphlet, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Australia 52: 13-31 pls 1-3 [17].

 

Distribution

States

Northern Territory

Extra Distribution Information

Darwin region.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NT: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Soil dweller, terrestrial.

Extra Ecological Information

Social, winter-dry swamps, nests in meridional mounds, diet plant detritus.

 

General References

Hill, G.F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region. Melbourne : Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 479 pp. 24 pls. [334-336] (biology)

Jacklyn, P.M. 1992. "Magnetic" termite mound surfaces are oriented to suit wind and shade conditions. Oecologia (Berlin) 91: 385-395 (mound orientation)

Watson, J.A.L. & Abbey, H.M. 1993. Atlas of Australian Termites. Melbourne & Canberra : Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 158 pp. [65] (distribution)

 

History of changes

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