Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, People's Republic of China.
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, People's Republic of China.
Curr Biol. 2017 Aug 21;27(16):R794-R795. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.083.
In a recent Current Biology paper [1], we reported the oldest, morphologically specialized, and obligate termitophiles, Cretotrichopsenius burmiticus (Figure 1, left), from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, about 99 million years old. Cretotrichopsenius, belonging to the obligately termitophilous rove beetle tribe Trichopseniini, display the protective horseshoe-crab-shaped body typical of many extant termitophiles. However, the termitophilous lifestyle of Cretotrichopsenius is being questioned by Yamamoto et al.[2] based on their representation of the termitophile-related features and premature and presumptive phylogenetic placement of Cretotrichopsenius within Trichopseniini. We stand by our interpretation that Cretotrichopsenius are obligate termitophiles, and Mesosymbion[3], a member of the largely free-living Mesoporini, are not necessarily termitophilous.
在最近的《当代生物学》论文中[1]，我们报道了来自缅甸白垩纪中期约 9900 万年前琥珀中的最古老、形态上特化且专性的白蚁共生菌 Cretotrichopsenius burmiticus（图 1 左）。 Cretotrichopsenius 属于专性白蚁共生的盗甲科 Trichopseniini 族，其具有许多现存白蚁共生菌所具有的保护性的马蹄蟹形身体。然而，Yamamoto 等人[2]基于 Cretotrichopsenius 与白蚁共生相关特征的表现以及其在 Trichopseniini 中的过早和推测的系统发育位置，对 Cretotrichopsenius 的白蚁共生生活方式提出了质疑。我们坚持认为 Cretotrichopsenius 是专性白蚁共生菌，而 Mesosymbion[3]，一个主要自由生活的 Mesoporini 成员，不一定是白蚁共生菌。
