Termes

Belongs within: Termitinae.

Termes is a pantropical genus of termites whose soldiers have long snapping mandibles. The type species, T. fatalis, is a South American species in which adult reproductives have prominently enlarged eyes (Miller 1991). The molecular phylogenetic analysis published by Inward et al. (2007) indicated that Termes is paraphyletic to a clade of various snapping termite genera from Australia.

<==Termes Linnaeus 1758L58
    |--T. borneensisIVE07
    `--+--*T. fatalis Linnaeus 1758M91, IVE07, M91 [=T. fataleM91]
       `--+--+--T. cornisIVE07
          |  `--T. hospesIVE07
          `--+--T. propinquusIVE07
             `--+--Ephelotermes Miller 1991IVE07, M91
                |    |--*E. melachoma Miller 1991M91
                |    |--E. argutus (Hill 1929) [=Mirotermes argutus]M91
                |    |--E. cheeli (Mjöberg 1920) (see below for synonymy)M91
                |    |--E. paleatus Miller 1991M91
                |    |--E. persimilis (Gay 1971) [=Termes persimilis]M91
                |    `--E. taylori (Hill 1915) [=Capritermes taylori, Mirotermes taylori, Termes taylori]M91
                `--+--Macrognathotermes Miller 1991IVE07, M91
                   |    |--*M. errator Miller 1991M91
                   |    |--M. broomensis (Mjöberg 1920) [=Mirotermes broomensis, Termes broomensis]M91
                   |    |--M. prolatus Miller 1991M91
                   |    `--M. sunteri (Hill 1927) [=Mirotermes sunteri, Termes sunteri]M91
                   `--+--Xylochomitermes Miller 1991IVE07, M91
                      |    |--*X. melvillensis (Hill 1915) [=Capritermes melvillensis, Mirotermes melvillensis]M91
                      |    |--X. aspinosus Miller 1991M91
                      |    |--X. occidualis (Gay 1971) [=Termes occidualis]M91
                      |    |--X. punctillus Miller 1991M91
                      |    |--X. reductus (Gay 1971) [=Termes reductus]M91
                      |    `--X. tomentosus (Gay 1971) [=Termes tomentosus]M91
                      `--+--Paracapritermes Hill 1942IVE07, M91
                         |    |--*P. primus (Hill 1942) [=Mirotermes (*Paracapritermes) primus]M91
                         |    |--P. kraepelinii (Silvestri 1909) [=Mirotermes kraepelinii]M91
                         |    |--P. prolixus Miller 1991M91
                         |    `--P. secundus Miller 1991M91
                         `--Cristatitermes Miller 1991IVE07, M91
                              |--*C. carinatus Miller 1991M91
                              |--C. arenicola Miller 1991M91
                              |--C. barretti Miller 1991M91
                              |--C. froggatti (Hill 1915) [=Capritermes froggatti, Mirotermes froggatti, Termes froggatti]M91
                              |--C. pineaformis Miller 1991M91
                              `--C. tutulatus Miller 1991M91
Termes incertae sedis:
  T. argutusM91
  T. australis (n. d.)H42
  T. baculiformis [=Mirotermes baculiformis]S57
  T. bellicosusR13
  T. cosmisSVT04
  T. flavicolleR26
  T. huayangensisSVT04
  T. jarmuranusM91
  T. lucifugumG20
  T. majorSVT04
  T. marginipennisH42
  T. melvillensisM91
  T. rutotiZ02
  T. tubicolaV25

Ephelotermes cheeli (Mjöberg 1920) [=Mirotermes cheeli, Termes cheeli; incl. M. alleni Mjöberg 1920, M. banksiensis Hill 1927]^M91

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[H42] Hill, G. F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region (including Australia, New Guinea and islands south of the Equator between 140°E. longitude and 170°W. longitude). Commonwealth of Australia Council for Scientific and Industrial Research: Melbourne.

[IVE07] Inward, D. J. G., A. P. Vogler & P. Eggleton. 2007. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of termites (Isoptera) illuminates key aspects of their evolutionary biology. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 44: 953–967.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[M91] Miller, L. R. 1991. A revision of the Termes-Capritermes branch of the Termitinae in Australia (Isoptera: Termitidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 4: 1147–1282.

[R13] Reuter, O. M. 1913. Lebensgewohnheiten und Instinkte der Insekten bis zum Erwachen der sozialen Instinkte. R. Friedländer & Sohn: Berlin.

[R26] Risso, A. 1826. Histoire naturelle des principales productions de l’Europe méridionale et particulièrement de celles des environs de Nice et des Alpes maritimes vol. 5. F.-G. Levrault: Paris.

[SVT04] Sornnuwat, Y., C. Vongkaluang & Y. Takematsu. 2004. A systematic key to termites of Thailand. Kasetsart Journal of Natural Science 38 (3): 349–368.

[S57] Seevers, C. H. 1957. A monograph on the termitophilous Staphylinidae (Coleoptera). Fieldiana Zoology 40: 1–334.

[V25] Vitzthum, H. 1925. Fauna sumatrensis. (Beitrag no. 5). Acarinae. Supplementa Entomologica 11: 1–79.

[Z02] Zherikhin, V. V. 2002. Ecological history of the terrestrial insects. In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 331–388. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.