|
" White-gutted soldiers: "
Scheffrahn, RH; Bourguignon, T; Bordereau, C; Hernandez-Aguilar, RA; Oelze, VM; Dieguez, P; Šobotnik, J; Pascual-Garrido, A
| Document Type
|
:
|
AL
|
| Record Number
|
:
|
913036
|
| Doc. No
|
:
|
LA1197f59v
|
| Title & Author
|
:
|
White-gutted soldiers:. simplification of the digestive tube for a non-particulate diet in higher Old World termites (Isoptera: Termitidae). [Article]\ Scheffrahn, RH; Bourguignon, T; Bordereau, C; Hernandez-Aguilar, RA; Oelze, VM; Dieguez, P; Šobotnik, J; Pascual-Garrido, A
|
| Date
|
:
|
2017
|
| Title of Periodical
|
:
|
UC Santa Cruz
|
| Abstract
|
:
|
Previous observations have noted that in some species of higher termites the soldier caste lacks pigmented particles in its gut and, instead, is fed worker saliva that imparts a whitish coloration to the abdomen. In order to investigate the occurrence of this trait more thoroughly, we surveyed a broad diversity of termite specimens and taxonomic descriptions from the Old World subfamilies Apicotermitinae, Cubitermitinae, Foraminitermitinae, Macrotermitinae, and Termitinae. We identified 38 genera that have this "white-gutted" soldier (WGS) trait. No termite soldiers from the New World were found to possess a WGS caste. Externally, the WGS is characterized by a uniformly pale abdomen, hyaline gut, and proportionally smaller body-to-head volume ratio compared with their "dark-gutted" soldier (DGS) counterparts found in most termitid genera. The WGS is a fully formed soldier that, unlike soldiers in other higher termite taxa, has a small, narrow, and decompartmentalized digestive tube that lacks particulate food contents. The presumed saliva-nourished WGS have various forms of simplified gut morphologies that have evolved at least six times within the higher termites.
|
| |