ItalianTermiteMan
Arachnoknight
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
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- 154
Today i'm here to share with you a few beautiful pics of a species of Lacessititermes termites shot by Philipp Hoenle (and graciously released to public domain) in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
Lacessititermes is a genus of nasute termites (subfamily Nasutitermitinae) that routinely organize extensive foraging columns to reach and harvest their main food source: lichens, mosses and other microephiphytes. These are collected from the substrate on which they grow (usually a tree trunk), formed into tiny balls and carried back to the nest by workers while large quantities of soldiers protect them. Said soldiers, present in large numbers whitin the colony, sport a thin frame and long appendages which makes them quick and agile and fight by ejecting on a distance strands of an air-hardening, toxic and irritant fluid with remarkable precision despite their blindness; this type of defence is especially effective against small arthropod predators, to the point that even usually higly aggressive ant species tend to avoid disturbing these termites altogether. Workers lack dedicated weaponry but can still bite with their short robust mandibles if pressed. Interestingly some species of this genus (including the one presented here) shows soldiers with comparable morphology but different head colors. These termites build arboreal nests on tree trunks and aggressively rush out to defend them in case of disturbance.
Now for the pics, each one with a short description:
Amber-headed Lacessititermes sp. soldiers on the lookout in and around breach in their arboreal nest. Note their long legs and antennae, which makes them much
less flank vulnerable than most other termite, an important perk for an open forager.
More amber-headed soldiers standing guard at their nest, you can actually see the defensive secretion reservoir trough their heads and the tubule that connects it
to the tip of the horn-like nasus, where a small pore is located. When the soldiers want to "shoot", a powerful muscle contraction constrict the reservoir and quickly
send some of the fluid it contains trough the whole lenght of the nasus and finally out of the pore at the tip.
Again, amber-headed soldiers standing guard. Here, however, we can also see a black-headed one in the background! Quite a colorful bunch when seen
toghether.
The arboreal nest of this Lacessititermes species.
Lacessititermes is a genus of nasute termites (subfamily Nasutitermitinae) that routinely organize extensive foraging columns to reach and harvest their main food source: lichens, mosses and other microephiphytes. These are collected from the substrate on which they grow (usually a tree trunk), formed into tiny balls and carried back to the nest by workers while large quantities of soldiers protect them. Said soldiers, present in large numbers whitin the colony, sport a thin frame and long appendages which makes them quick and agile and fight by ejecting on a distance strands of an air-hardening, toxic and irritant fluid with remarkable precision despite their blindness; this type of defence is especially effective against small arthropod predators, to the point that even usually higly aggressive ant species tend to avoid disturbing these termites altogether. Workers lack dedicated weaponry but can still bite with their short robust mandibles if pressed. Interestingly some species of this genus (including the one presented here) shows soldiers with comparable morphology but different head colors. These termites build arboreal nests on tree trunks and aggressively rush out to defend them in case of disturbance.
Now for the pics, each one with a short description:
Amber-headed Lacessititermes sp. soldiers on the lookout in and around breach in their arboreal nest. Note their long legs and antennae, which makes them much
less flank vulnerable than most other termite, an important perk for an open forager.
More amber-headed soldiers standing guard at their nest, you can actually see the defensive secretion reservoir trough their heads and the tubule that connects it
to the tip of the horn-like nasus, where a small pore is located. When the soldiers want to "shoot", a powerful muscle contraction constrict the reservoir and quickly
send some of the fluid it contains trough the whole lenght of the nasus and finally out of the pore at the tip.
Again, amber-headed soldiers standing guard. Here, however, we can also see a black-headed one in the background! Quite a colorful bunch when seen
toghether.
The arboreal nest of this Lacessititermes species.