Week 6 | Termites

Isoptera

Order that termites are from

Hymenoptera

Order of ants, bees, wasps

What did termites evolve from

cockroaches

Termite facts

• About 3000 species

• Found almost everywhere (not Antartica)

• Important detritivores and pests

• queens can live up to 50 years

• there is a kind

Sociality of termites

All are eusocial

Sociality in relatives of termites

• Wood roaches (Cryptocercus) is subsocial

• German cockroaches are gregarious (fond of company)

How does gene distribution differ in termites compared to Hymenoptera

Termites, unlike Hymenoptera, are not haplodiploidy

• sisters are not ¾ related

• no more related to each other (1/2) than they would be to their own offspring (1/2)

Holometabolous

complete metamorphosis, a type of insect development with four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult

Hemimetabolous

insects that go through incomplete metamorphosis, or gradual changes, as they develop into adults

Describe the metamorphosis of termites

They are hemimetabolous with a lot of variation

Parthenogenetically

A type of asexual reproduction where an embryo develops from an egg without fertilization

How does termite reproduction work

• Sexually produced offspring are differentiated into workers and alates

• Asexually produced offspring through parthenogenesis are differentiated into secondary queens

Drywood termites

• Air dwellers (don’t require much humidity)

• nighttime swarmers

• found in costal regions and southwestern states

• often found in attic wood

  

Subterranean termites

• Live in mud tubes (require moisture)

• daytime swarmers

• found in warm, southern states

• often found close to foundation

• causes 95% of termite damage in US

  

Discuss the phylogeny of termitoidae

• Basal termites (earliest branching lineage) is most fossilized

• Newer termites are still alive

Mastotermes darwiniensis

A lower termite

• only in Australia

• only member of the family

• most basal extant termite

• has some cockroach like morphology and behavior

• can kill trees and be pests

Hodotermitidae

A lower termite

• few dozen species

• “old world”

• harvester termite

• nest in soil

Archotermopsidae

A lower termite

• few dozen species

• damp wood termites; less of a pest

• range restricted in the US

Dampwood termites

primarily infest damp, decaying wood, meaning they are attracted to wood with high moisture content

• less likely to damage structural wood

Kalotermitidae

A lower termite

• few hundred species

• found around the world

• dry wood termites

• nest in fresh wood

• do well in arid (dry) environments

• more of a pest problem

Neoisoptera

New Isoptera, classified as higher termites

• distinguished from lower order due to a frontal gland called fontanelle contains a sticky substance that entraps their enemies

  • also because they have a bacteria in their hind gut rather than protistans

• wood digesting termites due to a protozoa, other microorganisms, and enzymes that digest cellulose in the gut

• complex endosymbiotic interactions

• not many things can eat wood

process of digesting lignocellulosic material

1. Material is mixed with salivary gland enzymes

2. Comminuted with the muscular gizzard

3. Reduced glucose is reabsorbed via midgut

4. Partially digests wood particles pass into the hindgut paunch

5. Hydrolyze remaining polysaccharides using cellulase and hemicelluloses

   1. Lower termites: done through cellulolytic flagellates

   2. Higher termites: done through cellulolytic bacteria

6. Short chain fatty acid is reabsorbed by the host

7. Feces that is lignin-rich is produced