Termites (Blattodea: Isoptera) have evolved specialized defensive strategies for colony protection. Alarm communication enables workers to escape threats while soldiers are recruited to the source of disturbance. Here, we study the vibroacoustic and chemical alarm communication in the wood roach Cryptocercus and in 20 termite species including seven of the nine termite families, all life-types, and all feeding and nesting habits. Our multidisciplinary approach shows that vibratory alarm signals represent an ethological synapomorphy of termites and Cryptocercus. In contrast, chemical alarms have evolved independently in several cockroach groups and at least twice in termites. Vibroacoustic alarm signaling patterns are the most complex in Neoisoptera, in which they are often combined with chemical signals. The alarm characters correlate to phylogenetic position, food type and hardness, foraging area size, and nesting habits. Overall, species of Neoisoptera have developed the most sophisticated communication system amongst termites, potentially contributing to their ecological success.

• MeSH
• Ethology MeSH
• Phylogeny MeSH
• Isoptera * MeSH
• Communication MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Cockroaches * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

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.

• Keywords
• historical biogeography, insects, long distance dispersal, molecular clock, social evolution, time-calibrated phylogenetic tree,
• MeSH
• Cell Nucleus MeSH
• Ecosystem MeSH
• Phylogeny MeSH
• Genome, Mitochondrial * MeSH
• Isoptera * genetics   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

Colonies of social insects contain large amounts of resources often exploited by specialized social parasites. Although some termite species host numerous parasitic arthropod species, called termitophiles, others host none. The reason for this large variability remains unknown. Here, we report that the evolution of termitophily in rove beetles is linked to termite nesting strategies. We compared one-piece nesters, whose entire colony life is completed within a single wood piece, to foraging species, which exploit multiple physically separated food sources. Our epidemiological model predicts that characteristics related to foraging (e.g., extended colony longevity and frequent interactions with other colonies) increase the probability of parasitism by termitophiles. We tested our prediction using literature data. We found that foraging species are more likely to host termitophilous rove beetles than one-piece nesters: 99.6% of known termitophilous species were associated with foraging termites, whereas 0.4% were associated with one-piece nesters. Notably, the few one-piece nesting species hosting termitophiles were those having foraging potential and access to soil. Our phylogenetic analyses confirmed that termitophily primarily evolved with foraging termites. These results highlight that the evolution of complex termite societies fostered social parasitism, explaining why some species have more social parasites than others.

• Keywords
• nest, phylogenetic comparative analysis, sis model, social evolution, social parasitism,
• MeSH
• Coleoptera * MeSH
• Phylogeny MeSH
• Insecta MeSH
• Isoptera * MeSH
• Symbiosis MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

Termites are a clade of eusocial wood-feeding roaches with > 3000 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 morphology, 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. In this review, we provide an overview of the 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 that many aspects of termite evolution remain speculative, as most termite biological diversity and evolutionary trajectories have yet to be explored.

• Keywords
• Bacteria, Fungi, Higher termites, Lower termites, Nutritional mutualism, Protists, Sociality, Symbiosis, Termitomyces,
• MeSH
• Biological Evolution * MeSH
• Cellulose metabolism   MeSH
• Phylogeny MeSH
• Isoptera classification   genetics   metabolism   MeSH
• Gastrointestinal Microbiome MeSH
• Symbiosis MeSH
• Fossils MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Review MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Cellulose MeSH