Volume 27, Issue 80, July - December, 2026

First report of three Oriental endemic termite species under Termitidae (Blattodea, Isoptera) from India

Jayati Basak¹, Madhumita Roy², Sharmistha Das³, Keloth Rajmohana^4♦

¹Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata, 700053, India
²Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata, 700053, India
³Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata, 700053, India
⁴Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata, 700053, India

^♦Corresponding Author
Keloth Rajmohana, Zoological Survey of India, M Block, New Alipore, Kolkata, 700053, India

ABSTRACT

The present study reports three termite species from the family Termitidae Latreille, 1802, viz. Microcerotermes bugnioni Holmgren, 1911 (Subfamily: Microcerotermitinae Holmgren, 1910), Odontotermes kistneri Manzoor & Akhtar, 2005 (Macrotermitinae Kemner, 1934), and Pericapritermes latignathus (Holmgren, 1914) (Microcapritermitinae Kemner, 1934) for the first time in India. All three species are Oriental endemics. The work also documents the worker caste, both major and minor, in O. kistneri for the first time. The present study provides the first documented evidence of O. kistneri and its habitation in the live trunks of acacia, sal, and kendua trees.

Keywords: New records, worker, Microcerotermes bugnioni, Odontotermes kistneri, Pericapritermes latignathus

Species, 2026, 27(80), e28s3307

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Published: 07 November 2026