Roisinitermes ebogoensis gen. &amp;amp; sp. n., an outstanding drywood termite with snapping soldiers from Cameroon (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae)

Scheffrahn, Rudolf H.; Bourguignon, Thomas; Akama, Pierre D.; Sillam‐Dussès, David; Šobotník, Jan

doi:10.3897/zookeys.787.28195

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(32 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Snapping mandibles have evolved in four independent clades of Termitidae and in one clade of Kalotermitidae 10,34,36,37 . These mandibles have been hypothesised to be a defensive weapon, especially in tunnels 6,12 , where both termites and their enemies are confined to narrow spaces (e.g., approximately 2-mm wide, as reported for Pe.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Termite’s Twisted Mandible Presents Fast, Powerful, and Precise Strikes

Kuan

Chiu

Shih

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The asymmetric mandibles of termites are hypothetically more efficient, rapid, and powerful than the symmetric mandibles of snap-jaw ants or termites. We investigated the velocity, force, precision, and defensive performance of the asymmetric mandibular snaps of a termite species, Pericapritermes nitobei. Ultrahigh-speed recordings of termites revealed a new record in biological movement, with a peak linear velocity of 89.7-132.4 m/s within 8.68 μs after snapping, which caused an impact force of 105.8-156.2 mN. High-speed video recordings of ball-strike experiments on termites were analysed using the principle of energy conservation; the left mandibles precisely hit metal balls at the left-tofront side with a maximum linear velocity of 80.3 ± 15.9 m/s (44.0-107.7 m/s) and an impact force of 94.7 ± 18.8 mN (51.9-127.1 mN). In experimental fights between termites and ant predators, Pe. nitobei killed 90-100% of the generalist ants with a single snap and was less likely to harm specialist ponerine ants. compared with other forms, the asymmetric snapping mandibles of Pe. nitobei required less elastic energy to achieve high velocity. Moreover, the ability of P. nitobei to strike its target at the front side is advantageous for defence in tunnels. Some invertebrates' elastic power-amplifying systems that incorporate latches and springs can overcome the physiological limits of muscle contraction and perform a powerful or rapid movement 1,2. For example, mantis shrimps (Crustacea: Stomatopoda) perform high-speed strikes to prey by using elastic energy stored in their raptorial appendages 3. Springtails (Hexapoda: Collembola) escape from enemies with quick and powerful jumps by using their springing organ 4. Many ants and termites, such as the snap-jaw ant Mystrium camillae Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) 5 and the soldiers of termite Termes panamaensis (Snyder) (Blattodea: Termitidae) 6 , have mandibles that are morphologically specialised for powerful snapping attacks. The snapping speeds of the mandibular attacks of M. camillae (111.1 m/s) 5 and T. panamaensis (67 m/s) 6 are the most rapid animal movements currently reported 1,5,6 , followed by the mandible-closing movement of Odontomachus bauri Emery trap-jaw ants (64.3 m/s) 7 , the diving of gyrfalcons (58 m/s) 8 , the nematocyst discharge of jellyfish (37 m/s) 9 , and strike behaviour of mantis shrimps (31 m/s) 1. The snapping mandibles of termite soldiers have two forms: symmetric and asymmetric 10,11. T. panamaensis has two narrow and elongated symmetric snapping mandibles that press together until they slide against each other (Fig. 1a). These mandibles strike enemies along their lateral sides 6. By contrast, the asymmetric snapping mandibles of some termites are relatively short and wide, with a twisted left mandible and curved right mandible 10. The right mandible presses against the left until the two surfaces slide. Moreover, the left mandible snaps in a clockwise motion (Fig. 1b), presumably striking enemies along the front side. Additionally, asymmetric sna...

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Termite’s Twisted Mandible Presents Fast, Powerful, and Precise Strikes

Kuan

Chiu

Shih

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our phylogenetic tree was composed of 183 taxa, including 138 modern termite species, each belonging to a distinct genus, 39 fossil termite species, and six outgroups, including Cryptocercus, four other cockroaches, and one mantis. The molecular data included 139 (133 termites + six outgroups) previously published mitochondrial genomes available on GenBank [13,34,43,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] (Data S3). All mitochondrial genomes were annotated using the MITOS webserver [44] with the invertebrate mitochondrial genetic code and default parameters.…”

Section: Phylogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

The history of body size evolution in termites

Mizumoto

Bourguignon

2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Termites are social cockroaches. Because non-termite cockroaches are larger than basal termite lineages, which themselves include large termite species, it has been proposed that termites experienced a unidirectional body size reduction since they evolved eusociality. However, the validity of this hypothesis remains untested in a phylogenetic framework. Here, we reconstructed termite body size evolution using head width measurements of 1638 modern and fossil termite species. We found that the unidirectional body size reduction model was only supported by analyses excluding fossil species. Analyses including fossil species suggested that body size diversified along with speciation events and estimated that the size of the common ancestor of modern termites was comparable to that of modern species. Our analyses further revealed that body size variability among species, but not body size reduction, is associated with features attributed to advanced termite societies. Our results suggest that miniaturization took place at the origin of termites, while subsequent complexification of termite societies did not lead to further body size reduction.

show abstract

“…The most comprehensive effort to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Kalotermitidae dates to the 1960s, with the taxonomic revision of Kalotermitidae by Krishna (1961) . Krishna’s generic classification was based on soldier and imago morphology and has been remarkably stable since its inception, with only two new genera added ( Ghesini et al 2014 ; Scheffrahn et al 2018 ). However, Krishna’s generic classification of Kalotermitidae has not been adequately tested by modern phylogenetic methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Buček

Wang

Šobotník

et al. 2022

Molecular Biology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Roisinitermes ebogoensis gen. & sp. n., an outstanding drywood termite with snapping soldiers from Cameroon (Isoptera, Kalotermitidae)

Cited by 13 publications

References 31 publications

Termite’s Twisted Mandible Presents Fast, Powerful, and Precise Strikes

Termite’s Twisted Mandible Presents Fast, Powerful, and Precise Strikes

The history of body size evolution in termites

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About