Liuzhenhong, who has tens of millions of fans of aerobics, is on the hot search again! This time it was because he beat termites while doing aerobics during the live broadcast. He claimed that he lived on the 20th floor of his house and did not understand how these flying insects flew to his house. It is estimated that such a picture has aroused the resonance of many people, so it detonated the Internet in an instant. Netizens in Shanghai have aired videos of swarms of flying insects, which are flying in the streets, beside windows and under street lights.
Many people know that these flying insects are termites with wings, but how can termites have wings? They should all be underground and in wood. Why do they make such a big noise and fly around?
In fact, the situation in which termites gather and fly around is called nuptial flight, during which termites grow wings.
Social insects basically hold this kind of ceremony. It is a bit like our blind date. Its purpose is to select high-quality spouses in flight. I don't know how many blind date objects of termites Liu Zhenhong killed during the live broadcast.
As we can see, the mating flight of termites is very spectacular (it may be more appropriate to describe it as disgusting), because there are so many individuals involved. In addition, termites are different from other mating insects.
Termites and ants
There are two main forces in the insect community - termites and ants, which account for about 1% of the weight of insect species, but more than 50% of the insect biomass.
In fact, 20% of the biomass of the animal kingdom is supported by these two groups, which shows how important they are to the earth's ecology.
Termites and ants have some similarities in appearance and life patterns, so we often confuse the two, but in fact, they have little relationship except that they are social insects.
Gregarious insects have some similar lifestyles, which is the result of convergent evolution. Our protagonist today - termites actually have a closer kinship with cockroaches, or, to be exact, with wood eating cockroaches (cryptococceta).
However, it is stated here that although the two are closely related, they actually evolved independently from each other long ago. Current research shows that they separated from each other in the late Jurassic (about 150million years ago).
Because of this, there are many disputes about the classification of termites. Perhaps considering the huge population and species of termites - there are about 3106 species of termites described all over the world, they are now divided into a separate family - termitidae (I personally think it is not necessary in Biology).
Wood eating cockroach, source: Matt Berger
Termites are distributed in all continents except Antarctica. Most of them live in Africa. You may have seen the mounds made by African termites.
There are about 435 species of termites in Asia, and most of them have settled in China. They don't like the cold, so they basically live in the south of the Yangtze River. I checked on the Internet and found that Shanghai milk termites mainly appeared in Shanghai, which may be the termites on this hot search.
Most termites are highly socialized burrowing creatures. Their nests are usually deep underground. If you see the termite nest model, you will be absolutely amazed. It is really an "underground city".
The huge "dungeons" were originally created by a pair of termites (one male and one female). All members of the "dungeons" are the offspring of the pair of termites. Then the pair of termites control everything through pheromones.
Termite nest, source: Olga Ernst
The social system of termites
In the ant nest, all termites have a clear division of labor, and each termite has its own work.
We can call the founder "King ant" and "queen ant". When the two are paired successfully, they will dig a nest for themselves and start breeding for life. At the same time, for most termites, the king ant and queen ant are the only termites with reproductive rights in the nest.
The queen only laid 10-20 eggs for the first time. These eggs are the first batch of residents of the nest after hatching. The reason why the first batch of residents lay few eggs for the first time is that these first batch of residents need the care of the queen and the queen.
Photo note: typical termite family photo
After these small termites grow up, they are assigned to different jobs. In the first 3-5 years of the nest, basically only two ant species - worker ants and soldier ants - will be born. They are all developed from fertilized eggs.
The crawling termites we usually see are basically workers, who basically handle all the work of the ant nest, including foraging, food storage, brooding, nest maintenance and so on.
Worker ant, source: Sanjay Acharya
Termites are very energy-saving animals. The process of worker ants feeding other nest mates is called cross feeding. In fact, it is to pass the food they have eaten to their companions. One advantage of this process is that their symbiotic colonies can be well spread.
Unlike bees, the worker ants of termites can be male or female, so they are different in morphology.
Note: some kinds of queens reproduce smaller queens
Another common adult termite in the ant nest is the soldier ant. As the name suggests, the soldier ant is a kind of ant that resists invasion. Many soldier ants have large heads and highly improved jaws, so they can't eat by themselves. Therefore, the soldier ant is also fed by workers.
Termite soldiers are also very interesting. They often have a hole in their forehead, which can secrete toxic viscous secretions to repel invaders. Some termite soldiers also use their heads as shields to block the entrance of their nests.
In most cases, worker ants and soldier ants are infertile, and the current research shows that they are inhibited by the pheromones of the Ant King and queen.
When the ant nest begins to grow, the reproductive capacity of the queen and the queen will become extremely strong, their bodies will become larger, and the abdomen of some kinds of queen ants will swell, which is conducive to the production of more eggs. Generally, one egg can be laid every three seconds, and some termites can lay 40000 eggs a day at most.
The life span of worker ants and soldier ants is not very long, usually about oneortwo years, but the Ant King and queen are responsible for the life span of insects. They can live for more than 50 years.
Termites fly in wedlock, source: Ganesh Subramaniam
Why did the termite wedding fly make so much noise?
After normal reproduction - which usually takes 3-5 years, the queen ant will produce another kind of termite - breeding ants. These termites are the second most common termites. They have wings. This time they fly around Shanghai.
When the breeding ants reach maturity, they will grow wings, and their appearance will turn black. This is caused by the hardening of the cuticle, which can increase their defense to better protect themselves.
As termites' nests are often more hidden, people now have very limited understanding of termites. For example, workers, soldiers and breeding ants hatch separately. Now scientists only know that the queen ant will produce different ant species according to the needs of the nest, but how to make fertilized eggs produce different ant species is unknown.
However, in some termite nests, some researchers have found that ant species can be switched freely. When necessary, worker ants and soldier ants will become breeding ants.
The only purpose of breeding ants is to transmit the genes of the ant nest to further places.
When the temperature, humidity and wind speed are appropriate, they will come out of the hole, and a large number of breeding ants from different nests will gather together, and then we can see the scene of marriage flying.
The reason why the marriage flight of termites can only occur when the humidity is very high is that they are animals living underground, their bodies are very fragile, and the environment outside the cave may be fatal to them.
I don't know how many people know about foam cicadas. Usually, the foam on the roadside grass is their masterpiece. Foam cicadas need to keep making bubbles to cool their bodies. The reason is that their ancestors lived underground.
Since each nest will send many male and female breeding ants to fly for marriage, they have made a lot of noise, but such noise is of great benefit to them.
The marriage flight of termites is also a bit like that of bees. Most of the time, females release pheromones to attract males to take off. However, many species have strong phototaxis, such as these termites in Shanghai this time.
However, unlike bees, termites have a greater risk of marriage and flight, because there are too many animals that eat termites. The marriage and flight ceremony is a little afraid that predators do not know.
In addition, termites have very poor adaptability to the ground environment, so we can see a large number of termite bodies at the end of each wedding flight.
As we said earlier, wedding flying is the process of selecting objects. Whether they expose themselves to an uncomfortable environment or attract predators, the biggest advantage is that they can select the best Ant King and queen.
During the wedding flight, those breeding ants that are not strong enough either die of exhaustion in an uncomfortable environment or are eaten by predators. The rest are excellent genes.
last
The successfully mated breeding ants will remove their useless organs - wings, and then start digging holes to build their own ant nests. After the first offspring take part in the work, they will never leave the nest again.
Then, they began to cycle the rules of the game of their former nest. They have been doing this for more than 100million years and may continue to do so.