BIOL 286

Lecture 18

ORDER ISOPTERA
THE TERMITES
 CHARACTERISTICS
• Medium-sized
• Simple metamorphosis
• Chewing mouthparts
• Primary diet is cellulose

• Entire order is eusocial (highly social)

• Termites live in organized societies in wood or soil.
• Each society is divided into several castes (queen; king; workers;
soldiers; secondary reproductives).

• Sometimes, referred to as white ants (but are not related to ants)

 Differences between termites and ants
TERMITES ANTS
• Order Isoptera • Order Hymenoptera
• Evolved 220 M years ago • Evolved 120 M years ago
• Light colored; soft-bodied • Dark colored; hard-bodied
• Antenna is straight • Antenna is elbowed
• Wings of equal size • Hind wing smaller than forewing
• No waist between thorax and • Waist between thorax and abdomen
abdomen
 Evolution of termites
• Termites evolved from wood eating cockroaches
• They depend on symbionts to digest cellulose
• Primitive colonies have protozoans as symbionts
(similar to their ancestors the wood feeding
cockroaches)
• Advanced families (such as Termitidae) depend on
bacteria + fungi as symbionts.
• Nymphs are born without symbionts,
so they cannot digest cellulose.

• For this, adults engage in anal liquid

feeding = feeding the young nymphs a drop
of excreta (undigested cellulose loaded
with symbionts)

• This dependence of the youngs on the

adults to pass the symbionts is thought to
be the key for the development of sociality
in this order.
 COLONY LIFE
CYCLE
1. Mating flight of winged reproductives:
• A termite colony begins when a flying sexually mature male
is attracted to a female by pheromones.
• The time of flight depends on weather (usually spring).
• It is synchronized so that genetic exchange occurs between
colonies of same species.
• Each colony constructs emergence holes so that the winged
reproductives are released.
• The dispersal flight of the winged adults is short (<km)
• Mating occurs in flight; then winged reproductives find
suitable location for nest building.
• Winged are shed after landing
• A new colony is initiated
• Adults excavate nesting site and rear the first brood (feed young
and pass symbionts).

2) Colony growth:
• When first brood is well established, it takes over nest maintenance
and care of king and queen.
• Royal couple becomes the specialized reproductive caste.
• Colony grows and new castes appear.
• Mature colony produce winged reproductives next spring.
 CASTES
1) PRIMARY REPRODUCTIVES:
• They are reproduction specialists
• Consist of a queen and a king
• They develop from fully winged adults;
heavily sclerotized; with compound eyes.
• The king is generally small.
• In many species, the queen develops an enlarged
and greatly swollen abdomen as a result of her
increasing egg-laying capacity.
• Some queens can lay up to 30,000 eggs / day.
2) WORKERS
• Consist of sterile, wingless, blind females and males.
• In some species, the workers show variation in size.
• Jobs of workers:
a. Nest construction and repair
b. Feeding the queen, king, soldiers, and nymphs
c. Tending the eggs
d. Foraging for food
e. Grooming other colony members.
3) SOLDIERS
• Are wingless, blind, sterile male and females
• Have a large, dark, elongate, highly sclerotized head,
adapted for defense.
• Mandibles are strong, hooked and powerful.
• They work together like scissors to behead,
dismember, or lacerate enemies.
• The head is so modified that they cannot feed
themselves.
• Function: defense
 Soldiers (cont’d)

There are several types of soldiers:

a. Those with stopper heads: plug up tunnels or
entrance holes to the nest. The head is short,
wide, heavily sclerotized.
b. Those with large mandibles: effective against
large vertebrate enemies.
c. Those with small, snapping mandibles:
effective against small enemies (ex ants)
Soldiers (cont’d)

d) Those with chemical defenses:

• Called nasutes
• They spray toxic or sticky chemicals from glands
associated with the mouths
• Their mouth ends in a long nozzle
• The defensive fluid entangles both the termites and
enemy/ant.
• The sticky substance also serves as an alarm
pheromone.
4) Secondary Reproductives
• They are produced in case the queen or king dies; and when the
colony expands.
• They are slightly sclerotized, winged, fertile and have reduced
compound eyes.
• Usually, they are released every spring; they swarm; females release
pheromones; mating occurs; every couple starts a new colony.
 Life cycle of termites
Nymphs
Workers

Eggs

Soldiers

Queen - King
Secondary reproductives:
Flight and mating

Shedding of wings
and initiating a new colony
CONTROL OF CASTES

It is complex and involves:

a. Inhibitory pheromones secreted by the king and queen to prevent
the production of secondary reproductives
b. Season: may be involved in determining when to produce the
secondary reproductives.
c. Nutrition: poor nutrition may inhibit soldiers and secondary
reproductives in some species.
Nest construction
Nest is constructed of excreta (undigested cellulose)
Mount builders (mix soil and saliva) in certain tropical species.
Nest with humidity and temperature control.
END