M ISCELLANEOUS PUBLICAT ION OCCASIONAL PAPER NO. 42 Records of the Zoological Survey of Ind-a TERMITE FAUNA (ISOPTERA) OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA, THEIR RECOGNITION, BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY by P. K. MAITI Issued by the Director Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta RECORDS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION OCCASIONAL PAPER No. 42 TERMITE FAUNA (ISOPTERA) OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA, THEIR RECOGNITION, BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY By P. K· MAITI Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta Edited by the Director, Zoological Survey of India 1983 © Copyright 1983, Government of India Published in October, 1983 PRICE: Inland : Rs. 60-00 Foreign: £, 7-50 $ 13-00 PRINTED IN INDIA BY THE BANI PRESS, 16 HEMENDRA SEN STREBT, CALCUTTA-700 006 AND PUBLISHED BY THE DIRECTOR. ZOOLOGICAL SURVEY OP INDIA, CALCUTTA.. 700 012 RECORDS OF THE: ZOOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION Occasional Paper No. 42 1983 Pages 1-152 CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 PHYSIOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, NATURAL, UNIT, ETC. OF WEST BENGAL 1 HISTORICAL REVIEW AND PRESENT STATUS OF TERMITE FAUNA .•. 2 MATERIAL AND METHOD 7 LIST OF COLLECTING LOCALITIES 7 CLASSIFICATION AND ABBREVlATIONS USED ·14 KBY, SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT AND ZOOGEOGRAPHY 15 Key for Identification 15 Systematic Account 27 Family I. KALOTERMITIDAE Subfamily; KALOTERMITINAE Genus (1) Neotermes Holmgren, 1911 1. Neotermes bosei Snyder 27 2. Neotermes buxensis Roonwal and Sen-Sarma 30 3. Neotermes kalimpongensis Maiti 31 4. Neotermes mangiferae Roonwal and Sen-Sarma 33 Genus (2) Glyptotermes Froggatt, 1896 5. Glyptotermes -caudomunitus Kemner 33 6.. Glyptotermes chinpingensis Tsai and Chen 35 7. Glyptotermes- krishnai. Maiti and Chakravarty 37 8. Glyptotermes sensarmai Maiti 38 [ ii ] PAGE Genus (3) Cryptotermes Banks, 1906 9. Cryptotermes dudleyi Banks 40 10. Cryptotermes havilandi (S~ostedt) ... 42 Family II. RHINOTERMITIDAE Subfamily (i) HETEROTERMITINAE Genus (4) Heterotermes Froggatt, 1896 11. Heterotermes indicola (Wasmann) 44 Genus (5) Reticulitermes Holmgren, 1913 12. Reticulitermes assamensis Gardner 47 Subfamily (il) COPTOTERMITINAE Genus (6) Coptotermes Wasmann, 1896 13. Coptotermes heim; (Wasmann) 48 14. Coptotermes kishori Roonwal and Chhotani 51 15. Coptotermes travians (Haviland) 53 Subfamily (iv) RHINOTERMlTINAE Genus (7) Parrhinotermes 16. Parrhinotermes khasu Roonwal and Sen-Sarma. 54 Family (III) STYLOTERMlTIDAE Genus (8) Stylotermes Holmgren and Holmgren, 1917 17. Stylotermes bengalensis Mathur and Chhotani 55 18. Stylotermes parabengalensis Maiti 56 Family IV. TERMITIDAE Subfamily (i) APICOTERMITINAE Genus (9) Eurytermes Wasmann. 1902 56 19. Eurytermes buddha Bose and Maiti Genus (10) Speculitermes Wasmann, J902 20. Speculitermes deccanensis paivai Roonwal and Chhotani 58 21. Specu/itermes roon"'ali sp. nov. 59 Genus (11) Euhamitermes Holmgren, 1912 22. Euh:zmitermes chhotanii sp. nov. 63 Genus (12) Synhamitermes Holmgren, 1912 23. Synhamitermes quadriceps (Wasmann) ••• 68 [ iii ] Genus (13) Microcerotermes Silvestri, 1901 PACE 24. Microcerotermes beesonl Snyd!r 70 25. Microcerotermes cameroni Snyder 74 Subfamily (ii) TERMITINAE Genus (14) Anguliterm2S Sjo3tedt, 1924 26. Angulitermes longifrons sp. nov. 77 Genus (15) Dicuspiditermes Krishna, 1965 27. Dicuspiditermes incola (Wasmann) 82 Genus (16) Pericaprterm~s Silvestri, 1914 28. Pericapritermes ceylonicus (Holm~ren) 84 29. Pericapritermzs dunznsis (Roonwal and Sen-Sarma) 86 30. Pericapritermes tetraphilus (Silvestri) 87 Subfamily (iii) MACROTERMIT1NAE Genus (17) Macrotermes Holmgren, 1909 31. M acrotermes estherae (Desneux) 89 32. M acrotermes gilvus (Hagen) 91 33. Macrotermes khajuriai Roonwal and Chhotani 92 Genus (18) Odontotermes Holmgren, 1910 34. Odontotermes assmuthi Holmgren 94 35. Odontotermes feae (Wasmann) 97 36. Odontotermes gurdaspurensis Holmgren and Holmgren ... 101 37. Odontotermes horni (Wasmann) 102 38. Odontotermes parvidens Holmgren and Holmgren 106 39. Odontotermes redemanni (Wasmann) 110 Genus (19) Hypotermes Holmgren 40. Hypotermes obscuriceps (Wasmann) 114 41. Hypotermes xenotermitis (Wasmann) 115 Genus (20) Microtermes Wasmann, 1902 42. Microterme.~ obesi Holmgren 117 Subf.lmily (iv) NASUTITERMITINAE Genus (21) Nasutitermes Dudley, 1890 43. Nasutitermes gardneri Snyder 121 44. N.1sutitermJS glroensis Roon~~al and Chhotani 123 45. N.lsutitermes jalpaiguriens!s Prash:ld and Sen-Sarma 124 46. Nasutitermes suknensis Prashad and Sen-Sarma ... 126 [ iv ] Genus~ (22.) Bulbitermes Emerson, 1949 PAGE 47. Bulbitermes emersoni Maiti 127 Genus (23) TrinerviterDies Holmgren, 1912 48. Trinervitermes biformis (Wasmann) 129 Zoogeography and Speciation 131 ECOLOGY 133 A. Faunal Zone 133 B. Habitat group 138 c. Swarming period 140 D. Predator 140 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE 143 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 144 SUMMARY 144 REFERENCES 146 INTRODUCTION General: Termites (Isoptera) constitute a most fascinating group of social insects specially because of their ubiquity in the tropics, superb architectural ability, cryptobiotic nature of life and enormous economic importance. The diverse physical and climatic features of the Indian subcontinent, offer favourable conditions to support a rich and varied termite fauna. Perhaps, because of its vastness and many other difficul­ ties, the State-wise faunal work had been undertaken by previous workers ( Roonwal and Chhotani, 1962 ; Roonwal and Bose, 1964, '70 ; Sen-Sarma and Thakur, 1979 and others) in the recent past. But, West Bengal, a politically defined state of Eastern India, remained unexplored so far as its termite fauna is concerned. The area is probably unparallel in whole of India, specially due to its contrasting land elevation i.e. from sea-level ( Bay of Bengal) up to 3650 m. ( Sandakphu and Phalut ) in the Himalayas. For sheer diversities in the physiography, climate, vegetation, etc., the area has developed a few natural units within which the study of termites creates enormous interest. Keeping this in view, the author explored the termite fauna as well as studied their ways of life and the present monograph is the output of such an endeavour. It deals with the termite fauna with special reference to taxonomy, zoogeography, field biology, faunal zonation and relation with biotic and abiotic factors. However, any such discussion will not be satisfactory unless it takes into account the physiography, climate, soil, vegetation, etc. of the area concerned. Therefore, these factors are also briefly tabulated. PHYSIOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, NATURAL UNITS, ETC. OF WEST BENGAL (A) Physiography, Climate, etc.-The State of West Bengal, with its 17 districts ( including Calcutta ), spreading over an area of 8700 sq. kms. lies approximately between 21 °31' and 27°14' N. lat.) 86°35' and 89°53 E. long, and the Tropic of Cancer runs across it. The State represents the western part of the great Brahmaputra-Gangetic delta, situated at the culminating point of the three vast well defined geologic regions of India, such as the Peninsular (Southern India), Extra­ Peninsular ( The Himalayas) and the Indo-Gangetic plains. Within the State, in North lie the lofty mountain ranges and low hills of the Himalayas with impenetrable evergreen forests at low 2 REC. ZOOL. SURV. INDIA. Oce. PAPER No. 42 elevation and hill streams in the valleys; along the entire length from North to South, the cultivated Gangetic Plains with small rivers, tanks and ponds; on the West, the lateritic uplands (eastern extremities of the Peninsula) with scrub jungles; and in South, the sandy coast with mangrove forests. The Himalayas have its enormous influence on the prevailing climate of the area. As a result, a large variety of climatic conditions from temparate to tropical, from excessively humid to semi­ arid, are noticeable in the State. In considering the diversities in physiography and variations in environmental factors, the area can easily be marked into four Natural Units (vide, Table 1). For better understanding of the termite population and their ways of life in the State, both biotic and abiotic factors are tabulated precisely under respective unit. (B) Natural Units (vide, Table 1 and Map 1) HISTORICAL REVIEW AND PRESENT STATUS OF TERMITE FAUNA Historical Review : The first record of termites from West Bengal dates back to 1915, when Assmuth reported for the first time the occurrence of two species, namely Heterotermes indicola (Wasm.) and Coptotermes heimi (Wasm.) from Calcutta. Since then, a number of species as either described or recorded (Holmgren and Holmgren, 1917; Snyder, 1933 and 1934 ; Margabandhu, 1934; and Dover and Mathur, 1934) from the State, all of which were catalogued by Snyder (1949). However, Rattan Lal and Menon (1953) published a list of all the known species from India including eight from West Bengal, while Roonwal and Pant (1953) reported six more species from the area to bring the total to 14 species as follows: Neotermes bosei (Snyder), Cryptotermes bengalensis (Snyder) [Syn. of Crypto. havilandi (Sjostdt)], Coptotermes heimi (Wasm.), C. travians Havil., Heterotermes indicola (Wasm.), Reticulitermes assamensis Gard., Odontotermes feae (Wasm.), o. obesus (Ramb.), o. parvidens Holmg. & Holmg., Macrotermes azarelli (Wasm.) [Syn. of M. gilvus], M. estherae (Desn.), Nasuti­ termes emersoni Snyder, N fletcheri Holmg. & Holmg. and N. gardneri Snyder. Latter on, Banerjee (1956) recorded as many as ten species from Calcutta, out of which four were real additi~n to the existing known fauna, nemely Odontotermes horni (Wasm.), o. redemanni (Wasm.), Hypotermes obscuriceps ·(Wasm.) and Microtermes obesi (H,olmg.). In