Department of Biological Sciences, Misaki Marine Biological Station, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Academic Assembly, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
Evol Dev. 2020 Nov;22(6):425-437. doi: 10.1111/ede.12335. Epub 2020 Apr 14.
Termites (Blattodea, Termitoidea, or Isoptera) constitute one of the major lineages of eusocial insects. In termite societies, multiple types of functional individuals, that is, castes, perform divisions of labors to coordinate social behaviors. Among other castes, the soldier caste is distinctive since it is sterile and exclusively specialized into defensive behavior with largely modified morphological features. Therefore, many of the previous studies have been focused on soldiers, in terms of ecology, behavior, and evolution as well as developmental and physiological mechanisms. This article overviews the accumulation of studies especially focusing on the developmental and physiological mechanisms underlying the soldier differentiation in termites. Furthermore, the evolutionary trajectories that have led the acquisition of soldier caste and have diversified the soldier characteristics in association with the social evolution are discussed.
白蚁（Blattodea、Termitoidea 或 Isoptera）是社会性昆虫的主要分支之一。在白蚁社会中，多种具有不同功能的个体，即品级，执行劳动分工以协调社会行为。在其他品级中，兵蚁是独特的，因为它们是不育的，专门从事防御行为，形态特征有很大的改变。因此，许多以前的研究都集中在士兵身上，包括生态学、行为学和进化以及发育和生理学机制。本文综述了特别是关于白蚁中兵蚁分化的发育和生理学机制的研究积累。此外，还讨论了导致获得兵蚁品级并与社会进化相关的多样化兵蚁特征的进化轨迹。
