ItalianTermiteMan
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 146
It's once again time for termites, and today's species' soldiers are indeed some tiny cuties!
Specifically, here we have an unidentified Ecuadorian member of Tenuirostritermes, interesting nasute termites notable for open-foraging in long and thin columns to harvest leaf litter and other plant detritus. While this genus is by far most diverse in Central and northern South America, two dark-colored arid-land species extend northwards into a tiny portion of the US, with T. cinereus and T. tenuirostris being found in part of Texas and Arizona, respectively. Another interesting fact about this genus is the size difference between the chemical-squirting soldiers and the workers: while in nasute termites it is common for the latters to be larger than the formers (after all, size and strenght count much less when you can fight from a distance) this is very marked in Tenuirostritermes, as you'll see in the following pics!
And here some very nice pics by Philipp Hoenle, all graciously released to public domain:
Here we can see a small detail of a column intent on open-foraging: see how tiny the soldiers are compared to the workers! Still, it should be noted that while this size
difference is very marked in this genus there are some in which it's even greater (ex. Rhadinotermes).
A soldier of Tenuirostritermes sp. guarding its foraging column, antennaw waving and "gun" at the ready... tell me if he ain't cute! Despite being barely a few mm long,
their capacity of squirting strands of an air-hardening, irritant and toxic fluid over a distance makes these very abundant soldiers highly effective defenders (you can
actually see the gleaming contours of the sac containing said fluid through this specimen's ambered head).
Another shot of the foraging column, this time focusing on a pair of workers; note how the soldiers dutifully guard the perimeter.
Specifically, here we have an unidentified Ecuadorian member of Tenuirostritermes, interesting nasute termites notable for open-foraging in long and thin columns to harvest leaf litter and other plant detritus. While this genus is by far most diverse in Central and northern South America, two dark-colored arid-land species extend northwards into a tiny portion of the US, with T. cinereus and T. tenuirostris being found in part of Texas and Arizona, respectively. Another interesting fact about this genus is the size difference between the chemical-squirting soldiers and the workers: while in nasute termites it is common for the latters to be larger than the formers (after all, size and strenght count much less when you can fight from a distance) this is very marked in Tenuirostritermes, as you'll see in the following pics!
And here some very nice pics by Philipp Hoenle, all graciously released to public domain:
Here we can see a small detail of a column intent on open-foraging: see how tiny the soldiers are compared to the workers! Still, it should be noted that while this size
difference is very marked in this genus there are some in which it's even greater (ex. Rhadinotermes).
A soldier of Tenuirostritermes sp. guarding its foraging column, antennaw waving and "gun" at the ready... tell me if he ain't cute! Despite being barely a few mm long,
their capacity of squirting strands of an air-hardening, irritant and toxic fluid over a distance makes these very abundant soldiers highly effective defenders (you can
actually see the gleaming contours of the sac containing said fluid through this specimen's ambered head).
Another shot of the foraging column, this time focusing on a pair of workers; note how the soldiers dutifully guard the perimeter.
more like a expert ..I do know there relatives of roaches . Most I’ve learned about termites came from your excellent posts keep them coming!!