Parrhinotermes buttelreepeni Holmgren, 1913

Takematsu, Yoko & Vongkaluang, Charunee, 2012, A taxonomic review of the Rhinotermitidae (Isoptera) of Thailand, Journal of Natural History 46 (17 - 18), pp. 1079-1109 : 1090-1091

Parrhinotermes buttelreepeni Holmgren, 1913

( Figures 6A–F , 14A )

Parrhinotermes buttelreepeni Holmgren, 1913: 79 .

Material examined

THAILAND: Narathiwat: Narathiwat , 29 November 1988, T. Abe coll.

Redescription

Soldier. Head capsule pale yellow; antennae pale yellow; labrum pale brownish yellow; mandibles pale brown, paler basally. Thoracic nota pale yellow; legs and abdomen pale yellow. Head sparsely hairy; labrum with several hairs on the anterior half and many minute hairs along the anterior margin; pronotum with a few hairs on the surface and many hairs along the margin. Postmentum with scattered hairs. Head capsule subrectangular, widest at just below middle, longer than wide, mHW / HL 0.85. Fontanelle small, circular. Eyes absent. Antennae with 13 segments; third segment as long as second and fourth. Labrum longer than wide. Mandibles incurved in middle, inner margin of bases finely serrated, slightly longer than half the length of the head, LML / HL 0.58; left mandible bent in middle, with two anterior directed, pointed marginal teeth, first marginal tooth located at anterior one-third of mandible, moderately larger than second; right mandible with a marginal tooth located at anterior quarter of the mandible, pointed, posterior cutting edge not distinctly concave. Postmentum almost two and half times as long as the maximum width; widest almost at the anterior third; narrowest at the posterior third. Pronotum flat, with anterior margin slightly convex, notched in middle. Mesonotum slightly narrower than pronotum. Metanotum almost as wide as pronotum.

Measurements (mm)

One soldier from one series: HL, 0.90; mHW, 0.77; LML, 0.52; PL, 0.26; PW, 0.47; PosL, 0.66; PosW, 0.26.

Distribution

Thailand (South), Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra. New record for Thailand.

Remarks

Only one colony was collected, from Narathiwat on the border of Malaysia. This species is similar to Parrhinotermes pygmaeus John, 1925 as the marginal tooth of the right mandible is located at the anterior third. However, it is easily distinguished by its smaller size and remarkably different shape of head capsule. The head capsule of P. pygmaeus is flat in profile and the lateral margins of the head are strongly convex unlike P. buttelreepeni .

Figures

Figure 6. Soldier of Parrhinotermes buttelreepeni Holmgren. (A) Head, dorsal view; (B) head, lateral view; (C) pronotum; (D) postmentum; (E) antenna; (F) mandibles. Scale bar 0.5 mm.

Figure 14. Distribution of Parrhinotermes, Prorhinotermes and Schedorhinotermes in Thailand. (A) Parrhinotermes buttelreepeni; (B) Parrhinotermes microdentiformisoides; (C) Prorhinotermes flavus; (D) Schedorhinotermes malaccensis; (E) Schedorhinotermes medioobscurus; (F) Schedorhinotermes rectangularis.