Termites are major decomposers in terrestrial ecosystems and the second most diverse lineage of social insects. The Kalotermitidae form the second-largest termite family and are distributed across tropical and subtropical ecosystems, where they typically live in small colonies confined to single wood items inhabited by individuals with no foraging abilities. How the Kalotermitidae have acquired their global distribution patterns remains unresolved. Similarly, it is unclear whether foraging is ancestral to Kalotermitidae or was secondarily acquired in a few species. These questions can be addressed in a phylogenetic framework. We inferred time-calibrated phylogenetic trees of Kalotermitidae using mitochondrial genomes of ∼120 species, about 27% of kalotermitid diversity, including representatives of 21 of the 23 kalotermitid genera. Our mitochondrial genome phylogenetic trees were corroborated by phylogenies inferred from nuclear ultraconserved elements derived from a subset of 28 species. We found that extant kalotermitids shared a common ancestor 84 Ma (75-93 Ma 95% highest posterior density), indicating that a few disjunctions among early-diverging kalotermitid lineages may predate Gondwana breakup. However, most of the ∼40 disjunctions among biogeographic realms were dated at <50 Ma, indicating that transoceanic dispersals, and more recently human-mediated dispersals, have been the major drivers of the global distribution of Kalotermitidae. Our phylogeny also revealed that the capacity to forage is often found in early-diverging kalotermitid lineages, implying the ancestors of Kalotermitidae were able to forage among multiple wood pieces. Our phylogenetic estimates provide a platform for critical taxonomic revision and future comparative analyses of Kalotermitidae.

California Academy of the Sciences San Francisco CA USA

Center for Biodiversity Research and Extension in Mindanao Central Mindanao University Musuan Maramag Bukidnon 8710 Philippines

Department of Biology College of Arts and Sciences Central Mindanao University Musuan Maramag Bukidnon 8710 Philippines

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Kansas Lawrence KS USA

Division of Entomology Natural History Museum University of Kansas Lawrence KS USA

Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Université Libre de Bruxelles Bruxelles Belgium

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Czech Republic

Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences 3205 College Avenue Davie FL 33314 USA

International Research Centre in Critical Raw Materials ICCRAM University of Burgos Plaza Misael Bañuelos s n 09001 Burgos Spain

Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology UR 4443 University Sorbonne Paris Nord Villetaneuse France

Madagascar Biodiversity Center Parc Botanique et Zoologique de Tsimbazaza Antananarivo Madagascar

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University 1919 1 Tancha Onna son Okinawa 904 0495 Japan

School of Biological Sciences University of Western Australia Perth WA 6009 Australia

Total Hadbara Gedera Israel

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The Trail-Following Communication in Stylotermes faveolus and S. halumicus (Blattodea, Isoptera, Stylotermitidae)

Evidence of cospeciation between termites and their gut bacteria on a geological time scale

Termite dispersal is influenced by their diet

Termite nest evolution fostered social parasitism by termitophilous rove beetles