Reticulitermes 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 : 1095-1096

Reticulitermes Holmgren, 1913

Type species: Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar, 1837)

Genus Reticulitermes is widely distributed in the northern temperate zone. But several species are distributed in the cooler mountain areas of northern India and southern China. The southernmost record of this genus was Dalat, Vietnam ( Emerson 1971). This is a first record of the genus from Thailand.

All the species of this genus have very similar morphology and therefore the diagnostic characters are very poor. The numerical characters such as head index (ratio of width to length) and size have mainly been used as the diagnostic characters, but these characters tend to be continuous between species. There are a few distinct morphological characters, such as chaetotaxy and postmentum shape. This situation has led to many species being described in China without adequate examination of the full extent of the intra- and inter-specific within Reticulitermes . About 10 species in the genus have been described from the Indomalaysian region. However, another 74 species were described from China, including 56 species described the 1960s ( Huang et al. 1989). In spite of the continuity of the diagnostic characters, almost all the Chinese species were described from a limited number of specimens and separated by only small differences of size and faint differences of morphology. Revision of the genus in Asia is required. Tsai et al. (1977) divided Reticulitermes into two subgenera, Frontotermes and Planifrontotermes based on the size of the frontal projection. However, I do not accept this classification because the subgenera were erected without sufficient descriptions and evidence to show that these were diagnostic characters.

Diagnosis

Head capsule rectangular, much longer than wide, sides almost parallel; frontal area generally raised forming frontal protuberances. Fontanelle minute. Eyes absent. Labrum subtriangular, tongue-shaped. Mandibles weakly incurved; left mandible

with three small crenulations and a basal projection; right mandible without tooth. Postmentum club-shaped. Pronotum flat, narrower than the head width.