Hodotermitidae

Soldier, worker and nymph of Hodotermes mossambicus, photographed by Lambert Smith.

Belongs within: Isoptera.

The Hodotermitidae, harvester termites, are a basal family of termites that are specialised feeders on dried grasses. Reproductives of hodotermitids are distinguished from other termites by their lack of ocelli, with possible stem representatives recorded from the early Cretaceous (Grimaldi & Engel 2005).

<==Hodotermitidae
    |  i. s.: Ulmeriella GE05
    |--Meiatermes GE05
    |    |--M. araripina GE05
    |    `--M. bertrani GE05
    `--+--‘Valditermes’ brenanae GE05
       `--+--Carinatermes [Carinatermitinae] GE05
          |    `--C. nascimbeni GE05
          `--+--Luteitermes prisca GE05
             `--+--Hodotermes mossambicus GE05, BB03
                |--Microhodotermes GE05
                `--Anacanthotermes GE05
                     |--A. ahngerianus R02
                     `--A. militaris GE05

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BB03] Brugerolle, G., & C. Bordereau. 2003. Ultrastructure of Joenoides intermedia (Grassé 1952), a symbiotic parabasalid flagellate of Hodotermes mossambicus, and its comparison with other joeniid genera. European Journal of Protistology 39: 1-10.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[R02] Rasnitsyn, A. P. 2002. Class Insecta Linné 1758. The insects (=Scarabaeoda Laicharting, 1781). In History of Insects (A. P. Rasnitsyn & D. L. J. Quicke, eds) pp. 65-69. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.