Summary
Plant material brought into the colony of the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes subhyalinus is processed exclusively by the castes of sterile adult individuals. There is a division of labour based partly on caste and partly on age groups:
88.8% of the foragers are major workers, 9.2% minor workers and 2% soldiers. The age of 97% of the foragers is more than 30 days after ecdysis.
Major and minor workers less than 30 days old take in the material collected and deposit it after passage through the intestine. In this way they build up the fungus comp.
The fungus comb is later consumed by major and minor workers more than 30 days old; these workers produce final faeces.
Soldiers are fed fungus comb material by workers.
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Badertscher, S., Gerber, C. & Leuthold, R.H. Polyethism in food supply and processing in termite colonies of Macrotermes subhyalinus (Isoptera). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 12, 115–119 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343201
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343201