Cryptotermes brevis
| Cryptotermes brevis | |
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| Cryptotermes brevis soldier | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Blattodea |
| Infraorder: | Isoptera |
| Family: | Kalotermitidae |
| Genus: | Cryptotermes |
| Species: | C. brevis |
| Binomial name | |
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Cryptotermes brevis (Walker, 1853) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Cryptotermes brevis is a species of termite in the Kalotermitidae family, commonly known as the West Indian drywood termite or the powderpost termite. It is able to live completely inside timber structures or articles made of wood such as furniture without any outside source of water. It is frequently introduced into new locations inadvertently, and causes damage to the structural timbers of buildings and to wooden objects such as furniture.
As eusocial insects, West Indian drywood termites build a colonial nest and live inside timbers, creating chambers for rearing larvae and short galleries. They resemble other drywood species in being larger and deeper-bodied than underground-dwelling termites, having shorter limbs and walking more slowly. Apart from the reproductive class, all other members of the colony are blind. They have strong jaws for chewing wood fibre, claws for gripping wooden surfaces and antennae resembling the beads of a necklace strung together.
The colony consists of several different castes; reproductives including a queen, king and alates (unmated winged termites); soldiers; and pseudergates (false workers). The king and queen have dark brown, chitinous cuticles but other members of the colony have soft bodies. The soldiers are about 4 to 5 mm (0.16 to 0.20 in) long with colourless bodies and black, wrinkled, squarish heads. Their mandibles are relatively small and they can use their heads to block galleries to prevent marauding ants from gaining access to the nest. The sausage-shaped pseudergates are immature termites that perform the functions of a worker caste and care for the brood, excavate tunnels, consume wood and feed the other members of the colony. The alates have two pairs of transparent membranous wings with dark veins running along near the leading edge. Identification of termites species is difficult and is usually made as a result of the appearance and structure of the soldiers' heads.
Cryptotermes brevis is more frequently introduced into new locations than any other termite species in the world. It was first described by the British entomologist Francis Walker from a location in Jamaica in 1853 but it is not thought to have originated in the West Indies. As a drywood termite, it is able to extract enough moisture from the wood in which it lives for survival and can thus easily be transported unknowingly to new locations. It may have originated in the Neotropics and spread to Jamaica and elsewhere in ships made of wood or in wooden articles such as furniture. Since then it further spread by similar means to other Caribbean islands and reached the maritime fringes of the southeastern United States before 1919.Cryptotermes brevis is now widely distributed worldwide. It is present in the Caribbean region, United States, Central America, tropical South America, Peru, Chile, St Helena, tropical Africa, South Africa and Madagascar. It is also invasive in Australia, where it was first observed in 1966, as well as New Caledonia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Fiji, and has been reported from Egypt, Italy and Spain.
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Wikipedia