Termitarium volume as a determinant of invasion by obligatory termitophiles and inquilines in the nests of Constrictotermes cyphergaster (Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae)

Cristaldo, Paulo F.; Rosa, Cassiano Sousa; Florencio, Daniela Faria; Marins, Alessandra; DeSouza, Og

doi:10.1007/s00040-012-0249-3

Cited by 49 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…This is reinforced by the presence of the obligatory inquiline I. microcerus [12], [29], [54], which was only found in C. cyphergaster nests. In fact, ocupation of C. cyphergaster nests by I. microcerus is not believed to occur at random but to depend on host/nest features [16]. Thus, inquiline occupation in these termitaria is likely to be related to the intrinsic characteristics of the species involved rather than being a simple chance event.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet Segregation between Cohabiting Builder and Inquiline Termite Species

et al. 2013

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How do termite inquilines manage to cohabit termitaria along with the termite builder species? With this in mind, we analysed one of the several strategies that inquilines could use to circumvent conflicts with their hosts, namely, the use of distinct diets. We inspected overlapping patterns for the diets of several cohabiting Neotropical termite species, as inferred from carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures for termite individuals. Cohabitant communities from distinct termitaria presented overlapping diet spaces, indicating that they exploited similar diets at the regional scale. When such communities were split into their components, full diet segregation could be observed between builders and inquilines, at regional (environment-wide) and local (termitarium) scales. Additionally, diet segregation among inquilines themselves was also observed in the vast majority of inspected termitaria. Inquiline species distribution among termitaria was not random. Environmental-wide diet similarity, coupled with local diet segregation and deterministic inquiline distribution, could denounce interactions for feeding resources. However, inquilines and builders not sharing the same termitarium, and thus not subject to potential conflicts, still exhibited distinct diets. Moreover, the areas of the builder’s diet space and that of its inquilines did not correlate negatively. Accordingly, the diet areas of builders which hosted inquilines were in average as large as the areas of builders hosting no inquilines. Such results indicate the possibility that dietary partitioning by these cohabiting termites was not majorly driven by current interactive constraints. Rather, it seems to be a result of traits previously fixed in the evolutionary past of cohabitants.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet Segregation between Cohabiting Builder and Inquiline Termite Species

et al. 2013

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“…Constrictotermes cyphergaster (Silvestri, 1901) was the most studied species (10 studies). Constrictotermes cyphergaster has been extensively studied in the ecosystems where it occurs, and studies citing "Mathews 1977" have regarded its interaction with other species residing the termite nest (Cunha & Brandão, 2000;Cunha et al, 2003;Cristaldo et al, 2012;Cristaldo et al, 2014), supplementary reproductives (Cunha & Brandão, 2002), eating habits (Moura et al, 2006a;Moura et al, 2006b), link between nest building and some plant species (Lima-Ribeiro et al, 2006;Silva et al, 2007;Bezerra-Gusmão et al, 2013), nest population and biomass (Vasconcellos et al, 2007), development of the caste system (Moura et al, 2011), and contribution to the carbon cycle (Bezerra-Gusmão et al, 2011).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bibliometrics on One of the Largest Termite Inventories in the Cerrado: "Studies on Termites From the Mato Grosso State, Brazil by Aga Mathews 1977"

Cunha¹,

Oliveira²,

Nabout³

2015

Pap. Avulsos Zool. (São Paulo)

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“…Colonies hold, on average, 4.5 workers per soldier (Cunha et al, 2003), and are usually monogynic even though multiple reproductives have already been reported to occur in a few nests (Cunha & Brandão, 2002). Termitaria built by this species are initially established on the soil surface, becoming arboreal as the colony matures (Cristaldo et al, 2012).…”

Section: The Termite Host and Its Termitophilementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among these, C. melantho is the most frequent obligatory cohabitant, being present in 80-83% of the termitaria built by C. cyphergaster in a given region (Cunha & Brandão, 2000;Cristaldo et al, 2012) as long as these nests are larger than 2.2 litres (Cristaldo et al, 2012). Among these, C. melantho is the most frequent obligatory cohabitant, being present in 80-83% of the termitaria built by C. cyphergaster in a given region (Cunha & Brandão, 2000;Cristaldo et al, 2012) as long as these nests are larger than 2.2 litres (Cristaldo et al, 2012).…”

Section: The Termite Host and Its Termitophilementioning

confidence: 99%

Termitariophily: expanding the concept of termitophily in a physogastric rove beetle (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

Pisno

Salazar

Lino‐Neto

et al. 2018

Ecological Entomology

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1. Termitophily in some rove beetles is commonly attributed to the striking termite worker resemblance that is provided by the beetles' hypertrophic ('physogastric') abdomen. However, a termite nest may offer to a termitophile additional benefits, such as a continuously repaired shelter.2. This could apply to Corotoca melantho (Aleocharinae: Corotocini), a viviparous obligatory termitophile staphylinid beetle species. While conferring morphological congruence to its host worker termites, its physogastry may impair mobility, leading to vulnerability and the need for a secure environment. It seems plausible to hypothesise that physogastry in C. melantho would imply in interactions between this termitophile and its host termites as well as its host termitarium.3. This study provides evidence to build such a hypothesis by inspecting the morpho-anatomical reproductive traits of this termitophile. It was found that a gradient of growth stages of embryos and larvae in the oviduct explains physogastry in females while pointing to iteroparity. The asynchronous development of oocytes in females, combined with a full developing sequence of sperm cells indicative of continuous spermatogenesis in males, suggests frequent matings.4. While improving guest-host similarity, physogastry and flightlessness should confer vulnerability to pregnant females, forcing C. melantho to seek close and sheltered environments. These could facilitate the frequent male-female contacts demanded by iteroparity. It is possible, therefore, that physogastry in C. melantho is not only associated with the termites themselves but also with the physical structure of the termitarium. Thus, C. melantho can be hypothesised to be a termitariophile in addition to being a termitophile.

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Termitarium volume as a determinant of invasion by obligatory termitophiles and inquilines in the nests of Constrictotermes cyphergaster (Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae)

Cited by 49 publications

References 33 publications

Diet Segregation between Cohabiting Builder and Inquiline Termite Species

Diet Segregation between Cohabiting Builder and Inquiline Termite Species

Bibliometrics on One of the Largest Termite Inventories in the Cerrado: "Studies on Termites From the Mato Grosso State, Brazil by Aga Mathews 1977"

Termitariophily: expanding the concept of termitophily in a physogastric rove beetle (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

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