Archotermopsidae


Archotermopsidae is a family of termites in the order Blattodea, known as dampwood termites, formerly included within the family Termopsidae. They constitute a small and rather primitive family with five extant genera and 13–20 living species. They may be a nuisance, but compared to the drywood termites, usually do not cause extensive damage to buildings or other man-made structures. As their name implies, they eat wood that is not dried out, perhaps even rotting, and consequently of little use to humans.

Taxonomy

In 2009, the five extant genera from the family Termopsidae were moved to a newly created family, Archotermopsidae, so that the family Termopsidae now includes only fossil taxa: Asiatermes, Huaxiatermes, and Mesotermopsis ; Cretatermes carpenteri ; Lutetiatermes prisca ; Paleotermopsis oligocenicus ; Parotermes insignis ; and Valditermes. The genera Porotermes and Stolotermes were later placed into a separate family, Stolotermitidae.