Amitermes californicus Banks 1920
Creators: name: Scheffrahn, Rudolf H.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Blattodea
Termitidae
Amitermes
Amitermes californicus

description: Amitermes californicus Banks, 1920 —revalidated name
Banks 1920: soldier described and figured; 61 fig. 2, 62, fig. 2.
Light 1930a: soldier, worker described and figured; 179, 184–187, 185, figs. L–O; pl. 11, fig. 1; pl. 12 figs. 1, 6; pl. 13, figs. 1, 5. Light 1930b: soldier mandibles figured; 231 fig. 3.
Light 1931: 9; synonymized with A. wheeleri.
Light 1932: soldier figured, 363; synonymized with A. wheeleri.
Light 1934: soldier figured; 202 fig. d, g.
Weesner 1965: soldier figured; 61 fig. 19E.
Scheffrahn et al. 1983: soldier figured; 1297 fig. 1.
Scheffrahn et al. 1986a: soldier figured,662 fig. 1 (left).
Scheffrahn et al. 1986b: defensive secretion.
Nickle & Collins 1988: soldier, worker figured; pl. 7 fig G–H.
Krishna et al. 2013: 2061.
Imago. Unknown.
Soldier. (Figs. 2A, B; 3A). The descriptions by Banks (1920) and Light (1930a) are complimentary but lacking the following additional characters: In dorsal view, head capsule orange yellow; if full of secretion, cephalic gland light yellow; occupying about half of head capsule area. Fontanelle forms narrow arch in middle of frons, surrounded by dense mat of long setae. Labrum conical, well delineated from postclypeus. Mandibles dark reddish brown from tips of blades to marginal teeth, bases massive with weak lateral humps. Blades broad beyond marginal teeth, then narrowing and curving evenly to tips. Marginal teeth large, subtriangular, and blunt. In lateral view, head capsule ovoid, bulbus; submentum projecting, parallel with ventral margin of head capsule. Dorsal margin with dozens of long setae; denser around fontanelle. Anterior margin of fontanelle forming shallow crease on frons. Anterior lobe of pronotum slightly longer than posterior lobe; pronotum margins with long setae.
Measurements. Fig. 1 and Table 1.
Diagnosis. Among Nearctic Amitermes, the soldier of A. californicus most closely resembles that of A. wheeleri (= floridensis). The mandible bases, blades, and marginal teeth of A. californicus are larger and stouter in all respect than those of A. wheeleri (= floridensis) (Figs 2–5, Table 1). The soldier of A. californicus is somewhat larger and has a more quadrate head capsule than that of A. wheeleri (= floridensis).
Worker. The description by Light (1930a) is adequate but lacking the following additional characters: The second proctodeal segment (P2) very narrow and tubular; seating consists of circular flare connecting to the third proctodeal segment. Enteric valve armature (Fig. 5A) with six cushions extending length of P2; posterior ends of cushion consisting of ovoid patches of pointy scales varying in number from about 25 to about eight. The cushion with the most posterior scales has a string of single scales extending to its anterior where scales divide into two or three strings. Other cushions lack a string, but their anterior terminations have scale strings or scale patches. The cushion with the least number of scales is always opposite that with the greatest.
Diagnosis. The workers of A. californicus and A wheeleri can only be separated by the former’s larger size and longer EVA (Fig. 5).
Material Examined. Supplementary Table S1.
description: Published as part of Scheffrahn, Rudolf H., 2022, Amitermes californicus Banks, 1920 (Isoptera, Termitidae, Termitinae) resurrected after ninety years of synonymy and A. floridensis Scheffrahn, 1989 synonymized into A. wheeleri (Desneux, 1906), pp. 581-588 in Zootaxa 5128 (4) on pages 582-585, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5128.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/6480094