Longipeditermes Holmgren, 1913

Syaukani, Syaukani, Thompson, Graham J, Yamasaki, Takeshi, Othman, Ahmad Sofiman, Muarrif, Samsul, Sarong, Muhammad Ali, Djufri, Djufri & Eguchi, Katsuyuki, 2019, Taxonomy of the genus Longipeditermes Holmgren (Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae) from the Greater Sundas, Southeast Asia, Zoosystematics and Evolution 95 (2), pp. 309-318 : 309

Genus Longipeditermes Holmgren, 1913

Soldier.

Bimodal in its size distribution. Head capsule pale brown to blackish; antenna much paler than head capsule in coloration, with the basal segments (first and second) generally darker than the remaining segments; pronotum paler than or as pale as head capsule; abdominal tergites pale brown to dark sepia brown; coxae yellowish to pale brown; femora yellow to brown; tibiae pale yellow to yellow. In dorsal view head capsule excluding rostrum pear-shaped to somewhat triangular, weakly constricted behind antennal sockets; its posterior margin weakly to strongly convex; dorsal outline in profile weakly to strongly concave; rostrum excluding the apex somewhat cylindrical rather than conical. Antenna long, with 14 segments; 3rd segment at least twice as long as 4th. Mandible relatively long, with sharp apical processes. Legs very long.

Worker.

Monomorphic but showing size variation. Pale brown to blackish. Antenna with 15 segments, with the basal segments darker than the following ones. Left mandible with 3rd marginal tooth weakly to moderately protruding from cutting edge, and 4th partially hidden behind molar prominence.

Remarks.

In Longipeditermes , the soldier caste is dimorphic. The caste is subdivided into major and minor soldiers that differ markedly in size ( Thapa 1981; Tho 1992; Gathorne-Hardy 2001; Miura and Matsumoto 1998) and slightly in coloration; the former being darker than the latter. The major soldier has more characters useful for species recognition and identification. Two varied species, L. longipes and L. kistneri , were recognized in our collection (Table 1), while no additional species were found by our morphology-based examination. The two species are relatively easily distinguished from each other by a combination of characters given in Table 2. These characters are re-described below in detail.