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Termites are eusocial insects that are categorized in the taxonomic rank of infraorder Isoptera, or as epifamily Termitoidae within the cockroach order Blattodea. Termites were once classified in a separate order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from near ancestors of cockroaches during the Triassic.
Approximately 3,106 species are currently clarified, using a few hundred more left to be described. Although these insects are often called"white ants", they're not ants. .
Like ants and a few bees and wasps in the separate order Hymenoptera, termites divide labour among castes consisting of sterile male and female"employees" and"soldiers". All colonies have fertile men called"kings" and one or more fertile females known as"queens". Termites chiefly feed on dead plant material and cellulose, generally in the kind of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung.
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Termites are among the most successful groups of insects on Earth, colonising many landmasses except Antarctica. Their colonies range in size from a few hundred individuals to enormous societies with many million individuals. Termite queens have the longest lifespan of any insect in the world, with some queens reportedly living up to 30 to 50 years.
Colonies are called superorganisms because the termites form a part of a self-regulating entity: the colony itself. .
Termites are a delicacy in the diet of several human civilizations and are used in many traditional medicines. A couple hundred species are economically significant as pests that can cause serious damage to buildings, crops, or plantation forests. Some species, like the West Indian drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis), are regarded as invasive species. .
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The infraorder name Isoptera is derived from the Greek words iso (equivalent ) and ptera (winged), which describes the nearly equal size of the fore and hind wings.2"Termite" derives from the Latin and Late Latin word termes ("woodworm, white ant"), modified from the influence of Latin terere ("to rub, wear, erode") from the earlier word tarmes.
The external appearance of the giant northern termite Mastotermes darwiniensis is indicative of the close relationship between termites and cockroaches.
Termites were formerly put in the order Isoptera. As early as 1934 suggestions were made that they were closely linked to wood-eating cockroaches (genus Cryptocercus, the woodroach) you could try these out based on the similarity of their symbiotic gut flagellates.6 In the 1960s additional evidence supporting that theory emerged when F. A. McKittrick noted similar morphological characteristics between some termites and Cryptocercus nymphs.7 In 2008 DNA analysis from 16S rRNA sequences8 supported the position of termites being nested within the evolutionary tree containing the order Blattodea, which included the cockroaches.910 The cockroach genus Cryptocercus shares the strongest phylogenetical similarity with termites and is considered to be a sister-group to termites.1112 Termites and Cryptocercus share similar morphological and social features: for example, most cockroaches do not display societal attributes, but Cryptocercus takes care of its own young and exhibits other social behavior such as trophallaxis and allogrooming.13 Termites are regarded as the descendants of the genus Cryptocercus.914 Some investigators have suggested a more conservative step of retaining the termites since the Termitoidae, an epifamily within the cockroach sequence, which preserves the classification of termites in family level and under.15 Termites have long been accepted to be closely associated with cockroaches and mantids, and they're classified in the exact same superorder (Dictyoptera).1617.
The earliest unambiguous termite fossils date to the early Cretaceous, but given the diversity of Cretaceous termites and early fossil records showing mutualism between microorganisms and these insects, they probably originated earlier in the Jurassic or Triassic.181920 Further evidence of a Jurassic origin would be that the assumption that the extinct Fruitafossor consumed termites, judging from its morphological resemblance to modern termite-eating mammals.21 The oldest termite nest detected is believed to be by the Upper Cretaceous in West Texas, where the oldest known faecal pellets were discovered.22 Claims that footprints arose earlier you could try this out have confronted controversy.
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Weesner indicated that the Mastotermitidae termites may return to the Late Permian, 251 million years ago,23 and fossil wings that have a close resemblance to the wings of Mastotermes of their Mastotermitidae, the toughest living , have been discovered in the Permian layers in Kansas.24 It is even possible that the first termites emerged during the Carboniferous.25 The folded wings of this fossil wood roach Pycnoblattina, arranged in a convex pattern between segments 1a and 2a, resemble those seen in Mastotermes, the only living insect with the identical pattern.24 Krishna et al., though, consider that each one of the Paleozoic and Triassic insects tentatively classified as termites are in fact unrelated to termites and should be excluded out of the Isoptera.26 The primitive giant northern termite (Mastotermes darwiniensis) exhibits numerous cockroach-like characteristics which are not shared with other termites, such as laying its eggs in rafts and having anal lobes on the wings.27 Cryptocercidae and Isoptera are united in the clade Xylophagidae.28 Termites are sometimes called"white ants" but the only resemblance to the ants is because of their sociality which is because of convergent evolution2930 with termites being the first social insects to evolve a caste system more than see this website 100 million years back.31 Termite genomes are generally relatively large in comparison to that of other insects; the first completely sequenced termite genome, of Zootermopsis nevadensis, which was published in the journal Nature Communications, consists of approximately 500Mb,32 while 2 subsequently released genomes, Macrotermes natalensis and Cryptotermes secundus, are considerably larger at around 1.3Gb.3330.