The frontal gland in workers of Neotropical soldierless termites |
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Authors: | Jan Šobotník David Sillam-Dussès František Weyda Alain Dejean Yves Roisin Robert Hanus Thomas Bourguignon |
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Affiliation: | 1. Research Team of Infochemicals, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, Flemingovo nám. 2, 166 10, Praha 6, Czech Republic 2. Department of Physiology, Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, 370 05, ?eské Budějovice, Czech Republic 3. CNRS, écologie des Forêts de Guyane, UMR-CNRS 8172, Campus agronomique, BP 709, 97379, Kourou cedex, France 4. Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, CP 160/12, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
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Abstract: | The presence of the frontal gland is well established in termite soldiers of Rhinotermitidae, Serritermitidae, and Termitidae. It is one of their main defensive adaptations or even an exclusive weapon. The gland was also occasionally reported in alate imagoes, but never in the worker caste. Here, we report the first observation of a frontal gland in workers of several Neotropical and one African species of Apicotermitinae. The ultrastructure of Aparatermes cingulatus and Anoplotermes nr. subterraneus is described in detail. In these two species, the gland is well-developed, functional and consists of class 1 secretory cells. The presence of envelope cells, wrapping the gland, is an unusual feature, as well as the presence of several zonulae adherens, connecting neighbouring glandular cells. The frontal gland of workers is homologous to this organ in soldiers and imagoes, as evidenced by the same position in the head and its connection to the same muscle. However, the defensive role of the frontal gland in workers remains to be confirmed. |
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