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Photogallery from Camerun: Macrotermes cfr bellicosus

macrotermes macrotermitinae termites

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#1 Offline ItalianTermiteMan2.0 - Posted January 14 2024 - 3:53 PM

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Good day/evening forum! It's time for more termites i pictured in Camerun in my last trip, and this time we've got a banger: Macrotermes cfr bellicosus (with a likely ID at a species level courtesy of good old LC3)!

 

These are robust fungus-growing termites notorious for the huge epigeal mound they build and the large size of their mature (physogastric) queens. As in all Macrotermes, both the soldier and workers are bimorphic, meaning they come in two forms, and every form is sex-specific: all major and minor soldiers are female, all major workers are male and all minor workers are female. Major soldiers especially were particularly aggressive in their defence of the mound, rushing out to attack in case of a breach and delivering a very painful bite both for their ability to slice through human skin and for the wound-burning cocktail of benzoquinones they abundantly exuded upon biting!

 

Now let's see some pics:

 

 

macro sp2 (3).JPG

Two major and a minor soldiers standing near each other, showing well their very marked bimorphism. The compact mandibles of these majors can cut trough human skin easily while the soldier pump an abundant quantity of benzoquinone-based defensive secretion into the wound. Under the major soldier on the left there is also a whitish larva.

 

 

macro sp2 (2).JPG

A minor soldier, two major soldiers and a minor worker (plus a pair of pale larvae).

 

 

macro sp2 2.JPG

A physogastric queen. this monster measured a bir more than 12 cm, but they can get even larger. Note how the head and thorax are minuscule compared to the abdome, who is massively swollen to accomodate huge masses of ovaries for a phenomenal egg-laying capacity!

 

 

macro sp2.JPG

A major soldier turn upside-down to show the underside of the head capsule with the prominent postmentum. Also note the stout, sharp mandibles (here visible not covered by the labrum).

 

 

 


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#2 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted January 16 2024 - 3:53 PM

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Very cool! What is the difference between a termite larva and nymph? Are different terms used for different families/subfamilies?
Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): Camponotus irritans inferior, Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, Nylanderia sp., Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#3 Offline ItalianTermiteMan2.0 - Posted January 20 2024 - 12:26 PM

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Very cool! What is the difference between a termite larva and nymph? Are different terms used for different families/subfamilies?

 

A larva is a dependant immature stage without true wing buds that might either be indifferentiated or directly precede a non-royal, non-soldier stage, a  nymph is wing-budded immature and dependant stage that will become either a primary royal or a nymphoid neotenic royal (tough in some species they can also undergo regressive molts). The bulk of termite brood (excluding eggs) are thus larvae, with nymphs generally appearing in preparation for swarming, eventually becoming alates.







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: macrotermes, macrotermitinae, termites

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