Diverse, primitive termites (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae,<i>incertae sedis</i>) from the early Miocene of New Zealand

Engel, Michael S.; Kaulfuß, Uwe

doi:10.1111/aen.12216

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…1 , supplementary fig. S12, Supplementary Material online); (2) Huguenotermes , an extinct genus allied to modern Cryptotermes , which appeared in the Palearctic at least by 35 Ma ( Engel and Nel 2015 ), whereas there are no modern native species of Cryptotermes or related genera in the Palearctic realm; (3) a wholly unique fauna of kalotermitids from the Miocene of Zealandia which may have diverged from other Kalotermitidae when Zealandia separated from Australia in the Late Cretaceous, and then become extinct as the landmasses of Zealandia became submerged during the Neogene, necessitating more recent recolonization of modern New Zealand ( Engel and Kaulfuss 2017 ); and (4) the oldest kalotermitid fossils of Proelectrotermes (a genus also represented in 41 Ma Baltic amber of the Palearctic realm), Kachinitermes , and Kachinitermopsis from the ∼99 million year old Kachin amber ( Engel et al 2007b ), substantially predating our estimates of the oldest Oriental kalotermitids (52 Ma, 47–59 Ma 95% HPD, node 5 in fig. 1 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Molecular Phylogeny Reveals the Past Transoceanic Voyages of Drywood Termites (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae)

Buček

Wang

Šobotník

et al. 2022

Molecular Biology and Evolution

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Termites are major decomposers in terrestrial ecosystems and the second most diverse lineage of social insects. The Kalotermitidae form the second-largest termite family and are distributed across tropical and subtropical ecosystems, where they typically live in small colonies confined to single wood items inhabited by individuals with no foraging abilities. How the Kalotermitidae have acquired their global distribution patterns remains unresolved. Similarly, it is unclear whether foraging is ancestral to Kalotermitidae or was secondarily acquired in a few species. These questions can be addressed in a phylogenetic framework. We inferred time-calibrated phylogenetic trees of Kalotermitidae using mitochondrial genomes of ∼120 species, about 27% of kalotermitid diversity, including representatives of 21 of the 23 kalotermitid genera. Our mitochondrial genome phylogenetic trees were corroborated by phylogenies inferred from nuclear ultraconserved elements derived from a subset of 28 species. We found that extant kalotermitids shared a common ancestor 84 Mya (75–93 Mya 95% HPD), indicating that a few disjunctions among early-diverging kalotermitid lineages may predate Gondwana breakup. However, most of the ∼40 disjunctions among biogeographic realms were dated at less than 50 Mya, indicating that transoceanic dispersals, and more recently human-mediated dispersals, have been the major drivers of the global distribution of Kalotermitidae. Our phylogeny also revealed that the capacity to forage is often found in early-diverging kalotermitid lineages, implying the ancestors of Kalotermitidae were able to forage among multiple wood pieces. Our phylogenetic estimates provide a platform for critical taxonomic revision and future comparative analyses of Kalotermitidae.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fauna of kalotermitids from the Early Miocene of New Zealand represents a distinctive fauna in ancient Zealandia ( Engel and Kaulfuss 2017 ). These taxa are poorly understood with unknown affinities to crown-kalotermitids.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Phylogeny Reveals the Past Transoceanic Voyages of Drywood Termites (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae)

Buček

Wang

Šobotník

et al. 2022

Molecular Biology and Evolution

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“…Indeed, the available fossil record suggests a more intricate historical biogeography for Kalotermitidae, characterized by considerable past extinctions, consistent with the fact that most organisms that have ever lived are today extinct and so historical biogeographic patterns must always be tempered by a consideration of significant extinction. Extinction events are at minimum evidenced by at least four groups of Kalotermitidae: 1) Electrotermes is the first unambiguous kalotermitid fossil from the Palearctic realm represented by ∼49–41 million-year-old fossils (Nel and Bourguet, 2006), and predating our oldest estimates of Palearctic kalotermitids (Figure 1 and S4); 2) Huguenotermes , an extinct genus allied to modern Cryptotermes , which appeared in the Palearctic at least by 35 Mya (Engel and Nel, 2015), while there are no modern native species of Cryptotermes or related genera in the Palearctic realm; 3) a wholly unique fauna of kalotermitids from the Miocene of Zealandia which may have diverged from other Kalotermitidae when Zealandia separated from Australia in the Late Cretaceous, and then become extinct as the landmasses of Zealandia became submerged during the Neogene, necessitating more recent recolonization of modern New Zealand (Engel and Kaulfuss, 2017); and 4) the oldest kalotermitid fossils of Proelectrotermes (a genus also represented in 41 Ma Baltic amber of the Palearctic realm), Kachinitermes , and Kachinitermopsis from the ∼99 million year old Kachin amber (Engel et al, 2007b), substantially predating our estimates of the oldest Oriental kalotermitids (53 Mya, 47–60 Mya 95% HPD, node 7 in Figure 1). These last three are possible representative of the kalotermitid stem group, but the others are crown-Kalotermitidae.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transoceanic voyages of drywood termites (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) inferred from extant and extinct species

Buček

Wang

Šobotník

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Termites are major decomposers of organic matter in terrestrial ecosystems and the second most diverse lineage of social insects. The Kalotermitidae, the second-largest termite family, are widely distributed across tropical and subtropical ecosystems, where they typically live in small colonies confined to single wood items inhabited by individuals with no foraging abilities. How the Kalotermitidae have acquired their global distribution patterns remains unresolved. Similarly, it is unclear whether foraging is ancestral to Kalotermitidae or was secondarily acquired in a few species. These questions can be addressed in a phylogenetic framework. We inferred time-calibrated phylogenetic trees of Kalotermitidae using mitochondrial genomes and nuclear ribosomal RNA genes of ~120 species, about 27% of kalotermitid diversity, including representatives of 22 of the 23 kalotermitid genera. We found that extant kalotermitids shared a common ancestor 81 Mya (72-91 Mya 95% HPD), indicating that a few disjunctions among early-diverging kalotermitid lineages may predate Gondwana breakup. However, most of the ~40 disjunctions among biogeographic realms were dated at less than 50 Mya, indicating that transoceanic dispersals, and more recently human-mediated dispersals, have been the major drivers of the global distribution of Kalotermitidae. Our phylogeny also revealed that the capacity to forage is often found in early-diverging kalotermitid lineages, implying that the ancestors of Kalotermitidae were able to forage among multiple wood pieces. Our phylogenetic estimates provide a platform for a critical taxonomic revision of the family and for future comparative analyses of Kalotermitidae.

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“…80 Myr). Other Miocene insects from New Zealand also represent lineages that mainly diversified before the breakup of Gondwana and presumably persisted in New Zealand until the Miocene or to the present day, including termites (Engel and Kaulfuss, 2017), ants (Kaulfuss and Dlussky, 2015), and tettigarctid cicadas (Kaulfuss and Moulds, 2015). Alternatively, if the Amblyopinini lineage represented by Sphingoquedius meto n. sp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An amblyopinine rove beetle (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylininae, Amblyopinini) from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar fossil-Lagerstätte, New Zealand

et al. 2020

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The first fossil rove beetle (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) from New Zealand is described from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar fossil-Lagerstätte, Otago. The new species, Sphingoquedius meto n. sp., is attributable to the tribe Amblyopinini of the subfamily Staphylininae based on the scutellum with anterior scutellar ridge only; isodiametric microsculpture on the pronotum; multidirectional arranged setae on the elytra; and presence of radiating setae on the fourth abdominal tergite. Sphingoquedius meto n. sp. is the first Southern Hemisphere fossil record of Amblyopinini and its affinity to the extant fauna as well as biogeographic and paleocological implications are discussed. UUID: http://zoobank.org/52275b83-d5ff-48af-A66F-2d62c3461677

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Diverse, primitive termites (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae,incertae sedis) from the early Miocene of New Zealand

Cited by 11 publications

References 39 publications

Molecular Phylogeny Reveals the Past Transoceanic Voyages of Drywood Termites (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae)

Molecular Phylogeny Reveals the Past Transoceanic Voyages of Drywood Termites (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae)

Transoceanic voyages of drywood termites (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) inferred from extant and extinct species

An amblyopinine rove beetle (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Staphylininae, Amblyopinini) from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar fossil-Lagerstätte, New Zealand

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