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Q&A ViewAttendees 17

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

10-Minute Paper

SysEB: Evolution

From roaches to the rise of Termitidae: Key innovations through the evolution of termites

Tuesday, November 2, 2021
9:24 AM – 9:36 AM MT
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room 102-106
In-Person

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Thomas P. Chouvenc

    Assistant Professor
    University of Florida
    Davie, Florida

    • Co-Author(s)

  • JĹ

    Jan Ĺ obotnĂ­k

    Czech University of Life Sciences
    Prague, Hlavni mesto Praha, Czech Republic

  • Michael Engel

    Graduate Student
    University of Central Missouri
    Warrensburg, Missouri

  • TB

    Thomas Bourguignon

    Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
    Onna-son, Okinawa, Japan

Termites are a clade of eusocial wood-feeding roaches with >3,000 described species. Eusociality emerged ~150 million years ago in the ancestor of modern termites, which, since then, have acquired and sometimes lost a series of adaptive traits defining of their evolution. Termites primarily feed on wood, and digest cellulose in association with their obligatory nutritional mutualistic gut microbes. Recent advances in our understanding of termite phylogenetic relationships have served to provide a tentative timeline for the emergence of innovative traits and their consequences on the ecological success of termites. While all “lower” termites rely on cellulolytic protists to digest wood, “higher” termites (Termitidae), which comprise ~70% of termite species, do not rely on protists for digestion. The loss of protists in Termitidae was a critical evolutionary step that fostered the emergence of novel traits, resulting in a diversification of morphologies, diets, and niches to an extent unattained by “lower” termites. However, the mechanisms that led to the initial loss of protists and the succession of events that took place in the termite gut remain speculative. Here, we provide an overview of key innovative traits acquired by termites during their evolution, which ultimately set the stage for the emergence of “higher” termites. We then discuss two hypotheses concerning the loss of protists in Termitidae, either through an externalization of the digestion or a dietary transition. Finally, we argue