Archotermopsidae is a family of termites in the order Blattodea, known as dampwood termites, formerly included within the family Termopsidae.[1] They constitute a small and rather primitive family with two extant genera and 5 living species.[2] They may rarely infest structures but do not usually do so, nor do they cause extensive damage to buildings or other man-made structures unless said structure has been sufficiently damaged such as by water. As their name implies, they eat wood that is not dried out, perhaps even rotting, and are consequently of little use to humans.
| Archotermopsidae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pacific Coast Dampwood Termite, Zootermopsis angusticollis, British Columbia | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Blattodea |
| Infraorder: | Isoptera |
| Parvorder: | Euisoptera |
| Family: | Archotermopsidae Engel et al., 2009 |
| Genera | |
|
Archotermopsis | |
Taxonomy
editIn 2009, the five extant genera from the family Termopsidae (Archotermopsis, Hodotermopsis, Porotermes, Stolotermes, and Zootermopsis) were moved to a newly created family, Archotermopsidae[1][3][4] (Zootermopsis had previously been treated as part of the family Hodotermitidae),[5] so that the family Termopsidae now includes only fossil taxa: Asiatermes, Huaxiatermes, and Mesotermopsis (Early Cretaceous of China); Cretatermes carpenteri (Upper Cretaceous of Labrador); Lutetiatermes prisca (Upper Cretaceous amber of France); Paleotermopsis oligocenicus (Upper Oligocene of France); Parotermes insignis (Oligocene of Colorado); and Valditermes (incertae sedis).[1][3][6] The genera Porotermes and Stolotermes were later placed into a separate family, Stolotermitidae.[7]
As of April 6, 2022, the genus Hodotermopsis has been moved to the newly elevated family Hodotermopsidae, leaving Archotermopsidae with Archotermopsis and Zootermopsis as its only extant genera.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c Engel, M.S.; Grimaldi, D.A.; Krishna, K. (2009). "Termites (Isoptera): their phylogeny, classification, and rise to ecological dominance". American Museum Novitates (3650): 1–27. hdl:2246/5969.
- ^ a b Wang, Menglin; Hellemans, Simon; Šobotník, Jan; Arora, Jigyasa; Buček, Aleš; Sillam-Dussès, David; Clitheroe, Crystal; Lu, Tomer; Lo, Nathan; Engel, Michael S.; Roisin, Yves; Evans, Theodore A.; Bourguignon, Thomas (2022-04-29). "Phylogeny, biogeography and classification of Teletisoptera (Blattaria: Isoptera)". Systematic Entomology. 47 (4): 581–590. Bibcode:2022SysEn..47..581W. doi:10.1111/syen.12548. ISSN 0307-6970. S2CID 248457693.
- ^ a b Constantino, Reginaldo (2016). "Termite Database".
- ^ "Tree of Life Web Project, Termopsidae, Dampwood termites". 2003.
- ^ Arnett, Ross H. Jr. (2000). American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico (2nd ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-0212-9.
- ^ "Archotermopsidae Family Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
- ^ Engel, Michael S. (2011). "Family-Group Names for Termites (Isoptera), redux". ZooKeys (148): 171–184. Bibcode:2011ZooK..148..171E. doi:10.3897/zookeys.148.1682. PMC 3264418. PMID 22287896.
Further reading
edit- Atkinson, T.H.; Koehler, P.G.; Patterson, R.S. (1991). "Catalog and atlas of the cockroaches (Dictyoptera) of North America north of Mexico". Misc. Publ. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 78: 1–86. ISBN 978-9991575872.
- Beccaloni, George W.; Eggleton, Paul (2011). Zhang, Z.Q. (ed.). "Order Blattodea Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1882. In: Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness". Zootaxa (3148): 199–200. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3148.1.37. ISSN 1175-5326.
- Beccaloni, George W.; Eggleton, Paul (2013). Zhang, Z.Q. (ed.). "Order Blattodea. In: Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness (Addenda 2013)". Zootaxa (3703): 46–48. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.10. ISSN 1175-5326.
- Borror, Donald J.; Peterson, Roger Tory; White, Richard E. (1998). A Field Guide to Insects. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0395911709.
- Engel, Michael S.; Krishna, Kumar (2004). "Family-Group Names for Termites (Isoptera)". American Museum Novitates (3432): 1. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2004)432<0001:FNFTI>2.0.CO;2. hdl:2246/2797. ISSN 0003-0082. S2CID 86672880.
- Gillott, Cedric (1980). Entomology. Plenum Press. ISBN 0-306-40366-8.
- Kellogg, Vernon L. (1905). American insects. H. Holt.
- Majka, C. (2009). "Thomas L. Casey and Rhode Island". ZooKeys (22): 267–283. Bibcode:2009ZooK...22..267M. doi:10.3897/zookeys.22.93.
- Misof, B.; Liu, S.; Meusemann, K.; Peters, R.S.; et al. (2014). "Phylogenomics resolves the timing and pattern of insect evolution". Science. 346 (763): 763–7. Bibcode:2014Sci...346..763M. doi:10.1126/science.1257570. PMID 25378627. S2CID 36008925.
External links
edit- Dampwood Termite Fact Sheet from the National Pest Management Association with information on habits, habitat and prevention
- Potential Impact of Management Alternatives for Dampwood Termites - California Department of Pesticide Regulation
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