Archotermopsidae is a family of termites in the
order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
...
Blattodea
Blattodea is an order (biology), order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetics, genetic and molecular evidence suggests they evolved from within the cockroach ...
, known as dampwood termites, formerly included within the family
Termopsidae.
They constitute a small and rather primitive
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
with two extant
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
and 5 living
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
.
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.
Taxonomy
In 2009, the five extant genera from the family Termopsidae (''
Archotermopsis'', ''
Hodotermopsis'', ''
Porotermes'', ''
Stolotermes'', and ''
Zootermopsis'') were moved to a newly created family, Archotermopsidae
[ (''Zootermopsis'' had previously been treated as part of the family ]Hodotermitidae
The Hodotermitidae (from Greek ὁδός (hodós), travelling; Latin '' termes'', woodworm) are a basal Old World family of termites known as the harvester termites. They are distinguished by the serrated inner edge of their mandibles, and th ...
),[ 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).][ The genera ''Porotermes'' and ''Stolotermes'' were later placed into a separate family, ]Stolotermitidae
Stolotermitidae is a family of termites in the order Blattodea, with two extant genera formerly placed in the family Termopsidae. There are about 14 described species in Stolotermitidae.
Genera
GBIF and the ''Termite Catalogue'' list the followi ...
.[
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.]
References
Further reading
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External links
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
Termites
Blattodea_families
Taxa named by Michael S. Engel
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