Zootermopsis laticeps
FAMILY
Termopsidae
TAXONOMY
Termopsis laticeps Banks, 1906, Florence and Douglas, Arizona, United States.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
None known.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Largest and most primitive North American termite. Winged alates 1–1.2 in (26–30 mm) from head to wing tips with wing span 1.8–1.9 in (46–48 mm); antennae with 26 segments; cerci with 5 segments; tarsi with 5 segments; reniform compound eyes, simple eyes or ocelli absent; body dark yellowish. Soldiers up to 0.6–0.9 in (16–23 mm) long with spectacularly long and jaggedly toothed mandibles; flattened heads; widest posteriorly; pronotum with anterior corners pointed; large spines on tibiae. Pseuder-gates develop from nymphs after wing-pad abscission or wing-pad biting. Pseudergates develop different pattern of hair over body and may molt several times, enlarging in size each time and developing large, wide head. Functionally reproductive replacement soldiers sometimes develop in orphaned colonies.
DISTRIBUTION
Central and southeastern Arizona to southern New Mexico, West Texas, United States, and Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico; within altitudinal range 1,500–5,500 ft (457–1,676 m) above sea level.
HABITAT
Occurs in canyons and river valleys in rotten cores of boles and large branches of living riparian trees such as willow, cottonwood, sycamore, oak, alder, ash, walnut, hackberry, and other hardwoods. Not recorded from conifers or dead, rotten logs. In the relatively arid region it inhabits, only live trees can provide the moist conditions it requires.
BEHAVIOR
Colonies are pro-eusocial. Gallery excavations extend several feet (meters) with concentric, wandering, open chambers in rotten wood. Excavated central area becomes filled with caked mass of fecal pellets. Galleries typically originate from knot hole plugged with a mass of hard fecal pellets; galleries often damp or wet inside. Soldiers agile, defend openings against ants or other predatory intruders.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Mycetoxylophagous, feeding only on rotten hardwoods. Feeding probably helps advance development of heart rot in infested trees.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Alates fly in middle of night from late June through early August. Colonies initiated by alate pairs in tree scars, knot holes, or small rot pockets where tree previously damaged by wind or beetles. Most field colonies headed by primary reproductive pairs, but replacement reproductives may develop from pseudergates or nymphs. Functional reproductive soldiers with heads smaller than typical soldiers have also been found as replacement reproductives in field colonies. Colonies rarely exceed 1,000 individuals.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened, but could be affected by agricultural or urban development in riparian habitats.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Attacks live trees and extends rot from dead to live portions of trees, hastening collapse or breakage of trees. However, most attacked tree species are not of economic importance, so not considered a pest. Could be pest in mature orchard crops such as pecan and pistachio, but this has not been reported. Could be used for physiological studies of termites because of large size, but collecting colonies difficult, requiring bucksaws or chainsaws, wedges, and sledgehammers.
