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Mirocapritermitinae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mirocapritermitinae
Pericapritermes nitobei
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattodea
Infraorder: Isoptera
Family: Termitidae
Subfamily: Mirocapritermitinae
Kemner, 1934
Type genus
Mirocapritermes Holmgren, 1914

Mirocapritermitinae is a subfamily of termites in the family Termitidae with 14 recognized genera.[1] Members of this subfamily were previously assigned to the Pericapritermes-group Termitidae, which was formally regrouped into the revived subfamily per Hellemans et al., 2024.[2] Species are distributed widely throughout the tropical Old World, and are predominantly soil-feeders or soil-wood interface feeders.[2] The soldiers have highly adapted snapping mandibles, most of which are asymmetric and twisted, allowing them to snap extremely quickly against their main predators, ants. Pericapritermes nitobei has been recorded to snap at speeds between 89.7 and 132.4 meters per second within 8.68 microseconds, among the fastest biological movements known.[3]

Genera

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References

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  1. ^ "Isoptera Species File - Mirocapritermitinae Kemner, 1934". isoptera.speciesfile.org. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
  2. ^ a b Hellemans, Simon; Rocha, Mauricio M.; Wang, Menglin; Romero Arias, Johanna; Aanen, Duur K.; Bagnères, Anne-Geneviève; Buček, Aleš; Carrijo, Tiago F.; Chouvenc, Thomas; Cuezzo, Carolina; Constantini, Joice P.; Constantino, Reginaldo; Dedeine, Franck; Deligne, Jean; Eggleton, Paul (2024-08-07). "Genomic data provide insights into the classification of extant termites". Nature Communications. 15 (1): 6724. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-51028-y. ISSN 2041-1723.
  3. ^ Kuan, Kuan-Chih; Chiu, Chun-I.; Shih, Ming-Chih; Chi, Kai-Jung; Li, Hou-Feng (2020-06-11). "Termite's Twisted Mandible Presents Fast, Powerful, and Precise Strikes". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 9462. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-66294-1. ISSN 2045-2322.