ItalianTermiteMan
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 146
Todoay's termite i'll talk you about is Stolotermes victoriensis, a rather rare species limited to the New South Whales and Victoria regions of Australia.
These termites are very archaic and hails from the very tiny Stolotermitidae family, which include only two genera with a surprisingly wide (if extremely discontinuous) distribution: Stolotermes itself and Porotermes. Species of this family, which can get quite large in size, dwell inside wet and preferably rotting wood log and pieces in forested habitats and are generally not regarded as pest, with a few exceptions (most notably Porotermes adamsoni, which can be a forestry pest). Returning to our Stolotermes victoriensis, they share the same nesting habits of your average Stolotermitidae (single-piece nesters inside wet/rotting wood), but are notable compared to the likes of Porotermes for the extreme flatness of their bodies: this peculiar build allow them to live under the bark of trees and inside extremely thin galleries and rooms, where other predators or competitors might have serious problem fitting or at least properly navigating. Their soldiers interestingly tend to sport wing buds (though they're never molt into "winged soldiers" as they are a developementally terminal caste) and also have surprisingly large eyes, a trait shared with their pseudergates (false workers), albeit to a lesser extent. To conclude, it's quite interesting to know how the closest relative of these "typical" basal termites is the Hodotermitidae family (the harvester termites), which despite being basal itself is very atypical in that regard (building underground termitaries from which they forage in the open, sporting a true worker caste and so on).
And now for the pics:
Soldier of S. victoriensis. Note the presence of wing buds and its large eyes.
Pic by Dr Jan Sobotnik (TRT, shared with permission), Australia.
Close up of a soldier with a few pseudergates in the background. Here you can clearly see its larhe eyes and start to realize up how flat this critter is.
Pic by Dr. Jan Sobotnik (TRT, shared with Permission), Australia.
This time we have a dead, alcohol-preserved soldier pictured laterally to show just how flat this species is!
Pic by BugWood.org Pest and Diseases Image Library (Attribution-NonCommercial CC licence).
Another shot at the same alcohol-preserved soldier above, this time a frontal macro of the extremely flattened head, and a good
representation of what a predator trying to squeeze in these termite's galleries would find waiting for him!
Pic by BugWood.org Pest and Diseases Image Library (Attribution-NonCommercial CC licence).
These termites are very archaic and hails from the very tiny Stolotermitidae family, which include only two genera with a surprisingly wide (if extremely discontinuous) distribution: Stolotermes itself and Porotermes. Species of this family, which can get quite large in size, dwell inside wet and preferably rotting wood log and pieces in forested habitats and are generally not regarded as pest, with a few exceptions (most notably Porotermes adamsoni, which can be a forestry pest). Returning to our Stolotermes victoriensis, they share the same nesting habits of your average Stolotermitidae (single-piece nesters inside wet/rotting wood), but are notable compared to the likes of Porotermes for the extreme flatness of their bodies: this peculiar build allow them to live under the bark of trees and inside extremely thin galleries and rooms, where other predators or competitors might have serious problem fitting or at least properly navigating. Their soldiers interestingly tend to sport wing buds (though they're never molt into "winged soldiers" as they are a developementally terminal caste) and also have surprisingly large eyes, a trait shared with their pseudergates (false workers), albeit to a lesser extent. To conclude, it's quite interesting to know how the closest relative of these "typical" basal termites is the Hodotermitidae family (the harvester termites), which despite being basal itself is very atypical in that regard (building underground termitaries from which they forage in the open, sporting a true worker caste and so on).
And now for the pics:
Soldier of S. victoriensis. Note the presence of wing buds and its large eyes.
Pic by Dr Jan Sobotnik (TRT, shared with permission), Australia.
Close up of a soldier with a few pseudergates in the background. Here you can clearly see its larhe eyes and start to realize up how flat this critter is.
Pic by Dr. Jan Sobotnik (TRT, shared with Permission), Australia.
This time we have a dead, alcohol-preserved soldier pictured laterally to show just how flat this species is!
Pic by BugWood.org Pest and Diseases Image Library (Attribution-NonCommercial CC licence).
Another shot at the same alcohol-preserved soldier above, this time a frontal macro of the extremely flattened head, and a good
representation of what a predator trying to squeeze in these termite's galleries would find waiting for him!
Pic by BugWood.org Pest and Diseases Image Library (Attribution-NonCommercial CC licence).
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