Termite Alate collection
Catalogue of termite alate observations I find noteworthy. Not formal, just my own thoughts and opinions I can reference if need be. (And so I don't have to use the favourites tab to archive everything.) Serves a similar function to a project.
List 1: Incisitermes minor - USA: Northern California
List 2: Kalotermitidae - Australia: Southern Victoria
List 3: Termite - Australia: Southern Victoria
List 4: Heterotermes - Australia: Southern Victoria
List 5: Amitermes coachellae and A. emersoni - United States: Southwest
List 1
Species: Incisitermes minor
Notes: I. minor north, west and around the Santa Cruz mountains appear to be the dark colour morph. Typically I. minor have a bright to dull red head and pronotum and black body. Individuals of this population vary on a gradient from concolours black/brown to possessing a reddish head and bicoloured pronotum, the latter group probably representing a transition to their typical coloration. Also appears that they fly in late summer to fall, as opposed to the middle of summer for the typical southern populations. A few I. minor observations in the south also show this colouration.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17114901
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/21375269
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/32645812
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/32647896
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/33996784
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30496379
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/32645814
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/59948447
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/59894454
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/64085028
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/64267220
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/58741942
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/96333824
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/95505925
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/95626125
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/95684451
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/95693112
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/95692797
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/95820661
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/96749228
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/180982978
South California:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/22420852
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/95697828
List 2
Species: Don't know
Notes: Probably Kalotermitidae. Strange looking. Has a small flat crescent pronotum.. All observations so far in Southern Victoria, around Melbourne. One observation designates it as Kalotermitida sp. KH01. Species looks a lot like Coptotermes. Presumably lacks a fontanelle.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/82392589
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/82773350
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/85716307
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/25548913
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37218280
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/64089494
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/70006210
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99068040
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99062440
Possibly:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54502349
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/104533697
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/98179653
List 3
Species: Don't know, possibly multiple.
Notes: Lower termite. Kalotermitidae or Rhinotermitidae. Wing venation reduced. Light coloured, slightly elongated head. Small. Observed during October, 2021, South Victoria, near Melbourne.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99057003
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99697449
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/98865244
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99691860
List 4
Species: Heterotermes
Notes: Pitch black Heterotermes sp. of Victoria, Australia. Can be seperated from C. lacteus due to light coloured wings and different venation pattern, for example, the median vein runs parallel along the entire wing and does not branch until the tip and only branches into two (consistent with other Heterotermes sp. from North America). Compared with C. lacteus where the vein curves with the wing and branches midway into a few branches, and is pigmented (dark). Head is more noticeably elongated/rectangular, pronotum is narrower than head, sides and posterior depressed compared. In observations of C. lacteus, the pronotum is uniformly fat and only slightly or equal in width to the head. Swollen (or much more swollen) clypeus, larger forewing scales which do not overlap, small non elongated indistinct ocelli located more above the head, and long narrow wings roughly 2x the length of the termite rather than more oblong wings 1.5x the length seems to be traits which separate Australian Heterotermes from Australian Coptotermes alates.
Soldier is that of Heterotermes: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118338947
Although the western and eastern populations of these black termite species (and a few other irregularities) indicate that there are multiple soil dwelling jet black Heterotermes sp.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/69094557
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73823600
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/74617908
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/108651869
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109116504
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101610901
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112121721
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112822782
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118338947
List 5: Three large species of Amitermes in the US: A. emersoni, A. coachellae and A. snyderi. Of these, the alates of A. emersoni and A. coachellae are black and fly in the fall, while the alates of A. snyderi are apparently unknown. Compared to other Amitermes, which have brown to light coloured alates and which mostly fly in the fall.
California
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/10189910
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/10189911
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/10189912
Arizona:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/68832625
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/105227504
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107395187
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/145446125
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151699365