Research Paper

Taxonomy of Glyptotermes (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae) in Taiwan

Chia-Chien Wu, Jing-Fu Tsai, Hou-Feng Li

Published on: 05 January 2024

Page: 37 - 49

DOI: 10.6165/tai.2024.69.37

Abstract

Glyptotermes Froggatt, 1897 (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae) is represented by two recorded species in Taiwan, namely G. fuscus Oshima, 1912, and G. satsumensis (Matsumura, 1907). However, there has been a lack of comprehensively survey taxonomic reviews on Glyptotermes in Taiwan for nearly a century. In order to address this gap and update the taxonomy of Glyptotermes species in Taiwan, we examined 281 colony specimens collected from Taiwan Island and its offshore islands. Morphological and molecular analyses based on 16S rDNA and COI were conducted, resulting in three distinct species: G. fuscus, G. satsumensis, and a new species named Glyptotermes albofemoralis sp. nov. The winged imago and soldier castes of the three species are described. A male winged imago of G. fuscus collected from the type locality is designated as the neotype.

Keyword: Glyptotermes albofemoralis, Glyptotermes fuscus, Glyptotermes satsumensis, new species, neotype, termite

Literature Cited

Amina, P., Rajmohana, K. 2016 Glyptotermes chiraharitae n. sp., a new dampwood termite species (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) from India. Zoosystema 38(3): 309–316.
DOI: 10.5252/z2016n3a2View Article Google Scholar

Bourguignon, T., Lo, N., Cameron, S.L., ?obotn?k, J., Hayashi, Y., Shigenobu, S., Watanabe, D., Roisin, Y., Miura, T., Evans, T.A., 2014 The evolutionary history of termites as inferred from 66 mitochondrial genomes. Mol. Biol. Evol. 32(2): 406–421.
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msu308View Article Google Scholar

Bouju, V., Jouault, C., Perrichot, V. 2022 The termite genus Glyptotermes (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) in Miocene amber from Ethiopia. J. Paleontol. 96(2): 387–393.
DOI: 10.1017/jpa.2021.106View Article Google Scholar

Froggatt, W.W. 1897 Australian Termitidae. Part II, pp. 510-552. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. 21. Sydney Linnean Society of New South Wales.
DOI: 10.5962/bhl.part.8483View Article Google Scholar

Hall, T.A. 1999 BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT, pp. 95–98, Nucleic acids symposium series, vol. 41. [London]: Information Retrieval Ltd., c1979–c2000.

Hebert, P.D., Cywinska, A., Ball, S.L. Dewaard, J.R. 2003 Biological identifications through DNA barcodes. Proc. Royal Soc. B. 270(1512): 313–321.
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2002.2218View Article Google Scholar

Holmgren, N. 1912 Die Termiten Japans. Annot. Zool. Jpn. 8: 107–136.

Hozawa, S. 1912 On Nils Holmgren's “Die Termiten Japans”. Dobutsugaku Zasshi (Zoological Magazine) 24: 493–502.

Ide, T., Kanzaki, N., Ohmura, W., Okabe, K. 2016 Molecular identification of the western drywood termite (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) by loop-mediated isothermal amplification of DNA from fecal pellets. J. Econ. Entomol. 109(5): 2234–2237.
DOI: 10.1093/jee/tow167View Article Google Scholar

Kambhampati, S., Kjer, K., Thorne, B. 1996 Phylogenetic relationship among termite families based on DNA sequence of mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Insect Mol. Biol. 5(4): 229–238.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2583.1996.tb00097.xView Article Google Scholar

Kerr, A., Janies, D., Clouse, R., Samyn, Y., Kuszak, J., Kim, J. 2005 Molecular phylogeny of coral-reef sea cucumbers based on 16S mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequence. Mar. Biotech. 7(1): 53–60.
DOI: 10.1007/s10126-004-0019-yView Article Google Scholar

Krishna, K. 1961 A generic revision and phylogenetic study of the family Kalotermitidae (Isoptera). Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 122: 303–408.

Krishna, K., Grimaldi, D.A., Krishna, V., Engel, M.S. 2013 Treatise on the Isoptera of the World. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 377(7) : 200–623.
DOI: 10.1206/377.2View Article Google Scholar

Kumar, S., Stecher, G., Tamura, K. 2016 MEGA7: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 7.0 for bigger datasets. Mol. Biol. Evol. 33(7): 1870–1874.
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msw054View Article Google Scholar

Matsumura, S. 1907 Konchu bunruigaku [Systematic entomology] [Vol. 1]. Press, Tokyo, Japan. 336 + [8] pp.

Morimoto, K. 1973 Glyptotermes nakajimai, a new termite from Japan (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae). Konty? 41: 470–474.

Munsell, A.H. 1967 Munsell Book of Color: Glossy finish collection., vol. Munsell Color Company, Baltimore, MD.
DOI: 10.1002/col.5080160609View Article Google Scholar

Nawa, U. 1912 Comparison of the soldiers belonging to eight different species of Japanese termites. Konchu Sekai (Insect World) 16: 17–19. [in Japanese]
DOI: 10.1086/474655View Article Google Scholar

Oshima, M. 1912 Third official report on termites [Dai Sankai Shiroari Chosa Hokoku].Press Institute of Science, Government of Formosa, Taihoku [Taipei], Taiwan. 186 pp.
DOI: 10.1002/qj.49704117410View Article Google Scholar

Oshima, M. 1913 Notes on the termites of Japan, with description of one new species. Philipp J. Sci., Section D, Gen. Biol., Ethnol. Anthropol. 8: 271–281.
DOI: 10.5962/bhl.part.1232View Article Google Scholar

Roonwal, M. L. 1969 Measurements of termites (Isoptera) for taxonomic purposes. J. Zoolog. Soc. India 21: 9–66.

Rust, M.K., Su, N.Y. 2012 Managing social insects of urban importance. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 57(1): 355–375.
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-120710-100634View Article Google Scholar

Scheffrahn, R.H. 2021 The termite genus Glyptotermes (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae) from Paraguay. ZooKeys 1059: 23–33.
DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1059.70500View Article Google Scholar

Scheffrahn, R.H., Carrijo, T.F. 2020 Three new species of Rugitermes (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae) from Peru and Bolivia. ZooKeys 1000: 31–44.
DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1000.59219View Article Google Scholar

Tsai, P.H., Chen, N.S. 1963 New termite from South China. Acta Entomol. Sin. 12: 167–198. [in Chinese, with English summary].
DOI: 10.1007/s13131-018-1326-xView Article Google Scholar

Wu, C.C. 2021 Taxonomy of Kalotermitidae (Blattodea) in Taiwan. M.Sc. dissertation, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.

Wu, C.C., Tsai, J.F., Li, H.F. 2024 Revision of Neotermes (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae) in Taiwan. Taiwania 69(1): 24–36.
DOI: 10.6165/tai.2024.69.24View Article Google Scholar

Yashiro, T., Takematsu, Y., Ogawa, N., Matsuura, K. 2019 Taxonomic assessment of the termite genus Neotermes (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) in the Ryukyu-Taiwan Island arc, with description of a new species. Zootaxa 4604(3): 549–561.
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4604.3.10View Article Google Scholar