% pubman genre = article @article{item_2467945, title = {{White-gutted soldiers: Simplification of the digestive tube for a non-particulate diet in higher Old World termites (Isoptera: Termitidae)}}, author = {Scheffrahn, R. H. and Bourguignon, T. and Bordereau, C. and Hernandez-Aguilar, R. A. and Oelze, Viktoria M. and Dieguez, Paula and {\v{S}}obotnik, J. and Pascual-Garrido, A.}, language = {eng}, issn = {0020-1812}, doi = {10.1007/s00040-017-0572-9}, publisher = {Birkh{\"u}ser Verlag}, address = {Basel}, year = {2017}, date = {2017-11}, abstract = {{Previous observations have noted that in some species of higher termites the soldier caste lacks pigmented particles in its gut and, instead, is fed worker saliva that imparts a whitish coloration to the abdomen. In order to investigate the occurrence of this trait more thoroughly, we surveyed a broad diversity of termite specimens and taxonomic descriptions from the Old World subfamilies Apicotermitinae, Cubitermitinae, Foraminitermitinae, Macrotermitinae, and Termitinae. We identified 38 genera that have this {\textquotedblleft}white-gutted{\textquotedblright} soldier (WGS) trait. No termite soldiers from the New World were found to possess a WGS caste. Externally, the WGS is characterized by a uniformly pale abdomen, hyaline gut, and proportionally smaller body-to-head volume ratio compared with their {\textquotedblleft}dark-gutted{\textquotedblright} soldier (DGS) counterparts found in most termitid genera. The WGS is a fully formed soldier that, unlike soldiers in other higher termite taxa, has a small, narrow, and decompartmentalized digestive tube that lacks particulate food contents. The presumed saliva-nourished WGS have various forms of simplified gut morphologies that have evolved at least six times within the higher termites.}}, journal = {{Insectes Sociaux}}, volume = {64}, number = {4}, pages = {525--533}, }