Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 6, 2026

Serritermitidae

Serritermitidae is a family of termites belonging to the infraorder Isoptera in the order Blattodea. The family includes only a few species, which live in South America.

Last revised
Jul 6, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
214 w
Citations
2
Source
Serritermitidae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattodea
Infraorder: Isoptera
Parvorder: Euisoptera
Microrder: Icoisoptera
Nanorder: Neoisoptera
Family: Serritermitidae
Holmgren, 19101

Serritermitidae is a family of termites belonging to the infraorder Isoptera in the order Blattodea.2 The family includes only a few species, which live in South America.

Appearance

These termites are much like the family Rhinotermitidae, to which they are related. The soldiers' jaws are sharply toothed on the inner side. At all stages, the mandible is strikingly sharp. The flying stages have fore wings with only one longitudinal vein, slightly ahead of the center of the wing. From this it affects numerous oblique veins to the wing trailing edge.

Habits

They are located in or on the ground. Their mode of life resembles the family Rhinotermitidae. Serritermes serrifer lives in the walls of the tufts of termites in the genus Cornitermes (Termitidae).

Prevalence

S. serresi is known from the states of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso, Brazil. The two Glossotermes species are known only from the Amazon region of Brazil.

References

References

  1. Emerson, A.E. & K. Krishna. 1975
  2. Krishna, K.; Grimaldi, D.A.; Krishna, V.; Engel, M.S. (2013). "Treatise on the Isoptera of the world" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 1. 377 (7): 1–200. doi:10.1206/377.1. S2CID 87276148.