{{Short description|Genus of termites}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Microhodotermes viator.jpg | image_caption = ''Microhodotermes viator'' | taxon = Microhodotermes | authority = Sjöstedt, 1926 }}
'''''Microhodotermes''''' is a genus of southern African '''harvester termites''' in the Hodotermitidae. As with harvester termites in general, they have serrated inner edges to their mandibles, and all castes have functional compound eyes.<ref name=isa>{{cite book|last=Scholtz |first=Clarke H.|title=Insects of Southern Africa |year=1985 |publisher=Butterworths |location=Durban |isbn=0409-10487-6 |page=57|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Species of this genus are desert specialists of the Namib, Kalahari and Karoo, where their ranges overlap with ''Hodotermes''.<ref name=evol>{{cite book|last=Abe |first=Takuya|title=Termites: Evolution, Sociality, Symbioses, Ecology |year=2000–2002 |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |location=Dordrecht, The Netherlands |isbn=0-7923-6361-2 |pages=35–36|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref name=fg/>
They forage at night and during daylight hours, and their pigmented workers<ref name=fg>{{cite book|last=Picker |first=Mike|title=Field Guide to Insects of South Africa |year=2004 |publisher=Struik Publishers |location=Cape Town |isbn=978-1-77007-061-5 |page=176|display-authors=etal}}</ref> are often observed outside the nest.<ref name=isa/> The workers of ''M. viator'' collect mostly woody material, with ''Pteronia'' and vygie species being favoured.<ref name=fg/>
Colonies of ''M. viator'' produce initially small,<ref name=oec>{{cite journal |last=Moore |first=J. M. |author2=Picker, M. D. |title=Heuweltjies (earth mounds) in the Clanwilliam district, Cape Province, South Africa: 4000-year-old termite nests |journal=Oecologia |year=1991 |volume=86 |issue=3 |pages=424–432 |doi=10.1007/bf00317612 |pmid=28312932|bibcode=1991Oecol..86..424M }}</ref> conical mounds on soil with sufficient clay content.<ref name = fg/> These are speculated to cause the formation of increasingly large heuweltjies.<ref name=oec/> Widespread foraging and burrowing activity of aardvarks are associated with heuweltjies inhabited by ''M. viator''.<ref name=oec/>
==Species== The genus contains three species:<ref name=biolib>{{cite web|title= ''Microhodotermes'' Sjöstedt, 1926 |url=https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id128556/ |work=Isoptera |publisher=biolib.cz |accessdate=5 February 2013}}</ref> * ''Microhodotermes maroccanus'' <small>(Sjöstedt, 1926)</small> * ''Microhodotermes viator'' <small>(Latreille, 1804)</small> * ''Microhodotermes wasmanni'' <small>(Sjöstedt, 1900)</small>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Termite genera Category:Blattodea of Africa
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