Termitidae

Termitidae is the largest family of termites consisting of 2,125 described species of which are commonly known as the higher termites. They are evolutionarily the most specialised termite group, with their highly compartmentalized hindgut lacking the flagellated protozoans common to "lower termites", which are instead replaced by bacteria and archaea. Whereas lower termites are restricted mostly to woody tissue, higher termites have diverse diets consisting of wood, grass, leaf litter, fungi, lichen, faeces, humus and soil. Around 60% of species rely on soil-feeding alone.

Termitidae

Engel, M.S.; Grimaldi, D.A.; Nascimbene, P.C.; & Singh, H. · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
termitePBDB
Sits inside
GeoisopteraPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 72 occurrencesEocene — about 3 of 72 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 72 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 60 of 72 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 72 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 72 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 8 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 11 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 15 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 16 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 6 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.7–3.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.9–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

72 occurrences of Termitidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

72 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Randeck Maar — 48.57°N, 9.53°EBarstow — 34.95°N, 116.83°WBarstow — 34.94°N, 116.83°WNiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WMazantic Shale — 17.15°N, 92.72°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°E

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The named rock units Termitidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 49 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Termitidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Termitidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,434 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 30 sites for Termitidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

20 references

Each of the 72 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 8 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Termitidae

Credit
Engel, M.S.; Grimaldi, D.A.; Nascimbene, P.C.; & Singh, H.
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Termitidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itGeoisoptera through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Latreille 1802