''Amitermes floridensis'', commonly known as the Florida darkwinged subterranean termite, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

eusocial Eusociality (from Greek εὖ ''eu'' "good" and social), the highest level of organization of sociality, is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generat ...

insect in the family

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 comm ...

. It feeds on rotting wood, reached by a network of tunnels. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to west central

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and was first described in 1989.

Taxonomy

During a survey of termites in Florida in the late twentieth century, a few winged specimens of an unidentified dark-winged termite in the family

were seen. This family contains around 1600 species but none had previously been found in the eastern United States. In 1988, swarms of these dark-winged termites were seen near the original location and further searches enabled workers of this species to be identified. The species was formally described in 1989 by the Florida entomologists Scheffrahn, Su, and Mangold; they named the new species ''Amitermes floridensis'' because it seemed to be restricted to the state of Florida.

Description

Workers are up to long. The thorax is constricted and the abdomen inflated, giving them a plump appearance. The head capsule is colourless and the abdomen transparent, so that the gut and its contents can be seen through the cuticle, giving them an overall greyish-colour. Soldiers are a similar size but the larger head capsule is pigmented and armed with black, crescent-shaped mandibles, each with a distinctive tooth on its inner surface.

Nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are typ ...

develop in mature

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

during the spring; these are larger than the workers, have wider thoraxes and have wing pads. These develop into

alate Alate (Latin ''ālātus'', from ''āla'' (“wing”)) is an adjective and noun used in entomology and botany to refer to something that has wings or winglike structures. In entomology In entomology, "alate" usually refers to the winged form o ...

s, winged males and females, which are dark brown, with bodies long and a total length with wings of . The wings are slender, with dark veins on the leading edge. The queen and king live deep below the ground but have not been observed in this species.

Distribution and habitat

The Florida darkwinged subterranean termite has only been found in west central Florida, particularly around

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Its range extends from

Tarpon Springs Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal poi ...

in the north to Sebring in the east and Punta Gorda in the south. It lives in an underground colony with extensive foraging passages. Where these emerge onto the surface in feeding locations, the above-ground portions are quite short.

Ecology

The termite colony has subterranean chambers and extensive underground foraging passages, rotting timber being the main diet. This species does not form galleries inside timber, but forms tubes along the surface, grazing on the wood, but not rising far above the ground. These tubes have faecal matter incorporated into them and are black. Structures attacked include fallen logs, fence posts, tree trunks, sheds and porches. Winged reproductives emerge from the nest through special free-standing short "swarm tubes" during the day between July and September. Swarms often occur soon after rainfall, or even before the rain has stopped; the numbers of insects can be very large, resembling columns of smoke issuing from the ground. The insects are weak fliers and many get stuck to wet foliage, buildings or vehicles. Those that return to the ground form pairs and the female searches out a suitable location under a log, stone or debris, in which to start a colony. It may take several years before a colony is large enough to produce its own alates.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13582636 Termites Insects of the United States Endemic fauna of Florida Insects described in 1989