Journal Article10.1007/BF01951642
Ontogenetic development and evolution of the worker caste in termites
C. Noirot,Jacques Pasteels +1 more
187
TL;DR: The definition of the worker caste and the current theories explaining its evolution are reexamined after a critical reappraisal of data on post-embryonic development and on the basis of ontogenic, morphologic and functional criteria, termite workers are defined.
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Abstract: The hemimetabolous termites have a very different caste system from social Hymenoptera in which only true imagoes participate in all social tasks. In termites, the imagoes are restricted to reproduction. The termite solidiers have no equivalent in other social insects. They are unique both in their post-embryonic development and their exclusively defensive function. At maturity they keep their molting gland and therefore should be considered as stabilized, differentiated immatures. They appeared monophyletically, early in the evolution of termites.
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Citations
A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of termites (Isoptera) illuminates key aspects of their evolutionary biology.
TL;DR: Feeding group evolution, however, showed a much more complex pattern, particularly within the Termitidae, where it proved impossible to estimate unambiguously the ancestral state within the family.
400
Polyphenism in insects.
TL;DR: This work surveys the status of research on some of the best known examples of insect polyphenism, in each case considering the environmental cues that trigger shifts in phenotype, the neurochemical and hormonal pathways that mediate the transformation, the molecular genetic and epigenetic mechanisms involved in initiating and maintaining the poly Phenotype, and the adaptive and life-history significance of the phenomenon.
393
Diversity and evolution of caste patterns
Yves Roisin
- 01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: Termite societies display a wide array of polymorphism patterns, rivalled only by the most complex ant societies as mentioned in this paper, where immatures of either sex deviate from the straight hemimetabolous pathway leading from the egg to the winged imago.
304
Termite Nests: Architecture, Regulation and Defence
Charles Noirot,Johanna P. E. C. Darlington +1 more
- 01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: Termite nest architecture evolved along with changes in lifestyle, the basic building behaviour being transmitted through the genes of reproductives, and the main selective pressure is thought to have been defence against predators.
303
An Introduction to Termites: Biology, Taxonomy and Functional Morphology
Paul Eggleton
- 01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: It is now clearly established that termites are a very specialised form of cockroach, with far more complex social systems than other cockroaches, and with a far wider range of diets.
197
References
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Jacques Renoux
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TL;DR: The study of post-embryonic development in Schedorhinotermes lamanianus reveals numerous special characteristics, including polymorphism and social organization that indicate a differential rate of evolution for different characteristics.
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TL;DR: Les études biométrique and morphologique du couvain permettent de distinguer chezCoptotermes intermedius deux stades larvaires communs à la lignée des imagos and à celle des ouvriers.
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L'arme frontale des soldats de termites. I. Rhinotermitidae
André Quennedey,Jean Deligne +1 more
TL;DR: Using scanning electron microscopy, this work state a more precise picture of the frontal weapon, which consists ofThe frontal gland, the pore and its associated cephalic structures involved in the defensive system of the insect.
Pathways of Caste Development in the Lower Termites
Ch. Noirot
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TL;DR: It is discussed that lower termites comprise several evolutionary lines and do not constitute a systematic unit, and that the developmental pathway well evidenced in Kalotermes flavicollis is general for the Kalotermitidae and Termopsidae.