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Termitidae
Termitidae is the largest family of termites whose members are commonly known as the higher termites. They are evolutionarily the most specialised termite group, with their highly compartmentalized hindgut lacking the flagellated protozoans common to "lower termites". Whereas lower termites are restricted mostly to woody tissue, higher termites have diverse diets consisting of wood, grass, leaf litter, fungi, lichen, faeces, humus and soil. Subfamilies The family contains the following subfamilies: *Termitidae Latreille, 1802 **Subfamily Apicotermitinae Grassé & Noirot, 1954 955/small> (synonym: Indotermitidae Roonwal & Sen Sarma in Roonwal, 1958) **Subfamily Cubitermitinae Weidner, 1956 **Subfamily Foraminitermitinae Holmgren, 1912 (synonym: Pseudomicrotermitinae Holmgren, 1912) **Subfamily Macrotermitinae Kemner, 1934, nomen protectum CZN 2003/small> (synonyms: Acanthotermitinae Sjöstedt, 1926, nomen rejiciendum CZN 2003/small>; Odontotermitini Weidner, 1956 **Subfamily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Termites
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattodea (along with cockroaches). Termites were once classified in a separate order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from cockroaches, as they are deeply nested within the group, and the sister group to wood eating cockroaches of the genus ''Cryptocercus''. Previous estimates suggested the divergence took place during the Jurassic or Triassic. More recent estimates suggest that they have an origin during the Late Jurassic, with the first fossil records in the Early Cretaceous. About 3,106 species are currently described, with a few hundred more left to be described. Although these insects are often called "white ants", they are not ants, and are not closely related to ants. Like ants and some bees an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Termite
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattodea (along with cockroaches). Termites were once classified in a separate order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from cockroaches, as they are deeply nested within the group, and the sister group to wood eating cockroaches of the genus ''Cryptocercus''. Previous estimates suggested the divergence took place during the Jurassic or Triassic. More recent estimates suggest that they have an origin during the Late Jurassic, with the first fossil records in the Early Cretaceous. About 3,106 species are currently described, with a few hundred more left to be described. Although these insects are often called "white ants", they are not ants, and are not closely related to ants. Like ants and some bees a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanotermes Isaacae
''Nanotermes'' is an extinct genus of termites in the Isoptera family Termitidae known from only one Eocene fossil found in amber of the Cambay Basin (Gujarat, India). The genus contains a single described species, ''Nanotermes isaacae'' placed tentatively in the subfamily Termitinae. History and classification ''Nanotermes'' is known from a single fossil, the holotype adult, which is an inclusion in a transparent chunk of Cambay amber. The amber specimen, "Tad-262", is currently housed in the fossil collection of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow, India. The holotype is composed of a mostly complete adult of indeterminate sex and minute overall size. Cambay amber dates to between 50 and 52 million years old, placing it in the Early to Mid Ypresian age of the Eocene, and was preserved in a brackish shore environment. The amber formed from a dammar type resin, which is produced mainly by trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The holotype specimen was r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amitermitinae
Amitermitinae is a disputed subfamily of "higher termites" now often merged with the subfamily Termitinae and is considered by ITIS as a synonym; it had previously been placed in the family Rhinotermitidae. Amitermitinae have as typical characteristics: a usually rounded head with a bilobed clypeus. The mandibles of their soldiers usually has a single median tooth. They have evolved the ability to have many reproductives in their colony, up to a hundred, which allows very large colonies. As with other members of their family, Termitidae, they have lost most of their cellulose-digesting protozoa. Instead, they eat fungi, which digest cellulose and other organic matter. As a result, the Termitidae can make use of a wide variety of foods; not only rotten wood, but also grass, seeds, dung, soil, and detritus are all used by one species or another. In addition, some species can synthesize nitrogen compounds. Many members of the Amitermitinae have evolved a very effective way of se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syntermitinae
The Syntermitinae is a neotropical subfamily of mandibulate nasute termites in the family Termitidae which contains 18 genera and 101 species. Majority of members in this subfamily have a soldier caste with a conspicuous horn-like projection from the fontanelle on their head adapted for chemical defense, similar to the fontanellar nasus of true nasute termites. However unlike true nasutes, the soldiers' mandibles are highly developed and they are unable to expel their chemical weaponry at a distance, relying instead on direct physical contact. Some genera, such as Syntermes, have completely lost their nasus. Both ''Nasutitermitinae'' and ''Syntermitinae'' are not closely related, with Syntermitinae being more closely related to either the ''Amitermes-group'' or '' Microcerotermes'' ''Termitinae''. Identification The frontal-gland aperture of soldiers is at the tip of a large projection (nasus) located in the frontal region of the head and the soldier mandibles have a recognizab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nasutitermitinae
The Nasutitermitinae are a subfamily of higher termites that includes more than 80 genera. They are most recognisable by the more highly derived soldier caste which exhibits vestigial mandibles and a protruding fontanellar process on the head from which they can "shoot" chemical weaponry. True workers of certain genera within this subfamily also exhibit a visible epicranial y suture, most notably found within the members of Nasutitermes. Notable genera include the notorious wood-eating Nasutitermes, and the conspicuous Hospitalitermes and Constrictotermes Constrictotermes is a genus of neotropical higher termites within the subfamily Nasutitermitinae. They form large open-air foraging columns from which they travel to and from their sources of food, similar to the Indomalayan species of processi ..., both genera characterized by their behavior of forming large open-air foraging trails. Genera The ''Termite CatalogueTermite Catalogue (retrieved 7 July 2019)' lists the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blattodea Families
Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetic and molecular evidence suggests they evolved from within the cockroach lineage, cladistically making them cockroaches as well. The Blattodea and the mantis (order Mantodea) are now all considered part of the superorder Dictyoptera. Blattodea includes approximately 4,400 species of cockroach in almost 500 genera, and about 3,000 species of termite in around 300 genera. Termites are pale-coloured, soft-bodied eusocial insects that live in colonies, whereas cockroaches are darker-coloured (often brown), sclerotized, segmented insects. Within the colony, termites have a caste system, with a pair of mature reproductives, the king and the queen, and numerous sterile workers and soldiers. Cockroaches are not colonial but do have a tendency to aggregate and may be considered pre-social, as all adults are capable of breeding. Other similar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrotermitinae
The Macrotermitinae, the fungus-growing termites, constitute a subfamily of the family Termitidae that is only found within the Old World tropics. This subfamily consists of 14 genera and about 350 species and are distinguished by the fact that they cultivate fungi inside their nests to feed the members of the colony. Despite the popular reputation of termites for breaking down and digesting wood, most termite species do not possess the capability to digest the cellulose in wood. Macrotermitinae instead use their mounds to cultivate fungus in a symbiotic relationship, similar to leaf-cutter ants (fungus-cultivating ants). Worker termites find plant debris and macerate it, chewing and moistening the material. They excrete the resulting fecal pellets inside the mound. Other worker termites use this matter to construct fungal combs. The mycelium then spreads through the comb and digests the plant material into a form that makes for nutritious food for the colony. The moun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambay Amber
Cambay, Kambay or Khambhat was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The City of Khambat (Cambay) in present-day Gujarat was its capital. The state was bounded in the north by the Kaira district and in the south by the Gulf of Cambay. Cambay was the only state in the Kaira Agency of the Gujarat division of the Bombay Presidency, which merged into the Baroda and Gujarat States Agency in 1937. History Cambay was founded as a state in 1730 by the penultimate Nawab of the Mughal Empire, Mirza Ja‘far Mu’min Khan I, the last of the Mughal governors of Gujarat, at the time of the dismemberment of Mughal rule in India. In 1742 Mirza Ja‘far Mu’min Khan I defeated his brother-in-law Nizam Khan, governor of Khambhat, and established himself in his place. In 1780 Cambay was taken by the British Army, led by General Goddard Richards, but it was restored to the Marathas in 1783. Finally it was ceded to the British by the Peshwa after the Treaty of Bassein in 1803. Cam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
