ItalianTermiteMan
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 146
Here i am again, this time sharing with you a pic by Dr. Rudolf Scheffrahn of another really nice termite: Pterotermes occidentis.
This non-pest species (the only one of its genus) is endemic to the arid Sonoran desert where it nests inside dry dead wood, preferably blue palo verde (Parkinsonia florida). It hails from the quite ancient family Kalotermitidae, and there is no going around it: this is a chonk of a termite! Soldiers especially (of which we can see one here) truly looks like tiny tanks!
As with (almost) all Kalotermitidae, P. occidentis is a single-piece nester and never leave the piece of wood it inhabit to forage outside or in the soil, with the only members of the colony that will ever venture outside the labyrinthic confines of their "home-log" being the swarmers periodically produced and released to fly away, mate and found new colonies.
Pic by Dr. Rudolf Scheffrahn - shared with permission
This non-pest species (the only one of its genus) is endemic to the arid Sonoran desert where it nests inside dry dead wood, preferably blue palo verde (Parkinsonia florida). It hails from the quite ancient family Kalotermitidae, and there is no going around it: this is a chonk of a termite! Soldiers especially (of which we can see one here) truly looks like tiny tanks!
As with (almost) all Kalotermitidae, P. occidentis is a single-piece nester and never leave the piece of wood it inhabit to forage outside or in the soil, with the only members of the colony that will ever venture outside the labyrinthic confines of their "home-log" being the swarmers periodically produced and released to fly away, mate and found new colonies.
Pic by Dr. Rudolf Scheffrahn - shared with permission
