Reticulitermes speratus (Kolbe) is economically important pest in East Asia including Korea, Japan and China where they infest wooden structures in urban areas. In this study, we report the first record of R. speratus speratus from Korea, which was verified using soldier morphology and molecular characteristics obtained from a mitochondrial gene. R. speratus speratus Kolbe, 1885 (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) are found in several provinces, mainly southern regions in Korea, whereas R. speratus kyushuensis are distributed throughout the country. Our morphological comparison showed that R. speratus speratus can be distinguishable from R. speratus kyushuensis by the ratio of the posterior postmentum width to length. In the molecular comparison, R. speratus speratus revealed genetic differences of 3.06% (range 2.60–4.10%) from R. speratus kyushuensis using cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene sequences.

• Wonhoon Lee(Department of Plant Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Institute of Agriculture and Life ScienceNational University) Corresponding author
• Hyo bin Lee(Department of Plant Medicine, Gyeongsang National University)
• Min Seok Seo(Cultural Heritage Risk Management Division, Cultural Heritage Administration)
• Sang-Bin Lee(Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida)