ItalianTermiteMan
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 146
Fourth stage major worker (left), fourth stage minor worker (right) and soldier (bottom) of Syntermes molestus, a rather large open-foraging termite that feeds mainly on leaf litter and other vegetal detritus and is found in several south American countries. Personally i find the contrast between their physical specializations in labor and battle truly fascinating!
While the all-male soldier caste is monomorphic (there is a single form of them), workers come in 4 different sizes/morphologies: third and fourth stage major workers (all males) plus third and fourth stage minor workers (all females). Fourth and third stage major workers differ for a darker color and larger head in the former, while the 2 stages of minors are equally pale and differ mainly just in size. If needed, a fourth-stage major workers can become a soldier through a short intermediate stage (the pre-soldier); these protect the colony with a pair of powerful cutting-type mandibles and a clear defensive secretion produced in their frontal gland and exuded from a small pore placed above the mandibles, well visible in this picture: during battle this secretion is designed to seep inside the gashes caused by their bites and act as a wound-active poison against other invertebrates.
Pic by César Favacho (Attribution-NonCommercial CC licence); state of Parà, Brazil.
https://uk.inaturalist.org/people/cesarfavacho
While the all-male soldier caste is monomorphic (there is a single form of them), workers come in 4 different sizes/morphologies: third and fourth stage major workers (all males) plus third and fourth stage minor workers (all females). Fourth and third stage major workers differ for a darker color and larger head in the former, while the 2 stages of minors are equally pale and differ mainly just in size. If needed, a fourth-stage major workers can become a soldier through a short intermediate stage (the pre-soldier); these protect the colony with a pair of powerful cutting-type mandibles and a clear defensive secretion produced in their frontal gland and exuded from a small pore placed above the mandibles, well visible in this picture: during battle this secretion is designed to seep inside the gashes caused by their bites and act as a wound-active poison against other invertebrates.
Pic by César Favacho (Attribution-NonCommercial CC licence); state of Parà, Brazil.
https://uk.inaturalist.org/people/cesarfavacho
