Křížková Barbora, Bourguignon Thomas, Vytisková Blahoslava, Sobotník Jan
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 117543 Singapore, Singapore.
Arthropod Struct Dev. 2014 Nov;43(6):537-42. doi: 10.1016/j.asd.2014.09.004. Epub 2014 Oct 2.
Social insects possess a rich set of exocrine organs producing diverse pheromones and defensive compounds. This is especially true for termite imagoes, which are equipped with several glands producing, among others, sex pheromones and defensive compounds protecting imagoes during the dispersal flight and colony foundation. Here, we describe the clypeal gland, a new termite exocrine organ occurring in the labro-clypeal region of imagoes of most Rhinotermitidae, Serritermitidae and Termitidae species. The clypeal gland of Coptotermes testaceus consists of class 1 (modified epidermal cell) and class 3 (bicellular gland unit) secretory cells. Ultrastructural features suggest that the gland secretes volatile compounds and proteins, probably after starting the reproduction. One peculiar feature of the gland is the presence of multiple secretory canals in a single canal cell, a feature never observed before in other insect glands. Although the function of the gland remains unknown, we hypothesize that it could produce secretion signalling the presence of functional reproductives or their need to be fed.
社会性昆虫拥有丰富的外分泌器官，能产生多种信息素和防御性化合物。白蚁成虫尤其如此，它们配备了多种腺体，除其他功能外，还能产生性信息素和防御性化合物，在扩散飞行和群体建立过程中保护成虫。在此，我们描述了上唇腺，这是一种新发现的白蚁外分泌器官，存在于大多数鼻白蚁科、锯白蚁科和白蚁科物种成虫的唇基区域。黄胸散白蚁的上唇腺由1类（改良表皮细胞）和3类（双细胞腺单位）分泌细胞组成。超微结构特征表明，该腺体可能在开始繁殖后分泌挥发性化合物和蛋白质。该腺体的一个独特特征是单个导管细胞中存在多个分泌管，这一特征在其他昆虫腺体中从未见过。尽管该腺体的功能尚不清楚，但我们推测它可能产生分泌物，表明功能性繁殖蚁的存在或它们需要进食。
