Aging termites go out with a bang
Their suicide mission is a sophisticated one, involving a backpack full of blue crystals and a substance that joins with them to make a poison. But these are not terrorists or agents of espionage; they are aging worker termites of the species Neocapritermes taracua.
The termites, which are found in French Guiana, have an external structure that stores blue crystals that develop as they age. When a worker is attacked, its body wall ruptures, and an internal gland secretes a fluid that mixes with the crystals. This mixture is toxic to the attacker, said Yves Roisin, an evolutionary biologist at Free University of Brussels. "When they are young they are all white," he said.
"And when they get older their mandibles also wear down, so they are probably less efficient for feeding, but they develop the crystals for defence."
Roisin and his colleagues report their findings in the current issue of the journal Science. They initially noticed that some of the termites they were studying had blue spots at the junction between the thorax and abdomen.
The blue spots, they discovered, are copper-containing protein crystals and are found only on older termites. Now the researchers would like to determine what the secretion from the internal gland contains.
Earthworm from France found in Ireland
An earthworm species rarely seen outside the Aquitaine region of southwestern France is thriving more than 600 miles to the north, across the sea in Ireland, a new study reports.
The earthworm's new habitat, on an urban farm in Dublin, may have been made possible by rising soil temperatures caused by climate change, said Olaf Schmidt, a biologist at University College Dublin and an author of the study.
"What is really interesting about these worms is that there are about 25 species restricted to a small area in the southwest of France," he said. "None have moved outside this area, and suddenly we found them in a routine survey of farms in Dublin."
The worm's introduction to Ireland was probably a result of human activity; it may have arrived with garden plants being imported to Ireland. Though a newcomer to the island, the worm species, Prosellodrilus amplisetosus, does not appear to be invasive, and is happily coexisting with the 30 other earthworm species already found in Ireland, Schmidt said. "This new worm eats a different carbon and nitrogen fraction in the soil," he said.
"In fact, it could be that they will contribute to the maintenance of the soil structure and nutrients. We will have to see."
The mean yearly temperature in Aquitaine is about five degrees higher than that in Dublin. But globally, temperatures are rising.
Sindya N Bhanoo , New York Times News Service
Their suicide mission is a sophisticated one, involving a backpack full of blue crystals and a substance that joins with them to make a poison. But these are not terrorists or agents of espionage; they are aging worker termites of the species Neocapritermes taracua.
The termites, which are found in French Guiana, have an external structure that stores blue crystals that develop as they age. When a worker is attacked, its body wall ruptures, and an internal gland secretes a fluid that mixes with the crystals. This mixture is toxic to the attacker, said Yves Roisin, an evolutionary biologist at Free University of Brussels. "When they are young they are all white," he said.
"And when they get older their mandibles also wear down, so they are probably less efficient for feeding, but they develop the crystals for defence."
Roisin and his colleagues report their findings in the current issue of the journal Science. They initially noticed that some of the termites they were studying had blue spots at the junction between the thorax and abdomen.
The blue spots, they discovered, are copper-containing protein crystals and are found only on older termites. Now the researchers would like to determine what the secretion from the internal gland contains.
Earthworm from France found in Ireland
An earthworm species rarely seen outside the Aquitaine region of southwestern France is thriving more than 600 miles to the north, across the sea in Ireland, a new study reports.
The earthworm's new habitat, on an urban farm in Dublin, may have been made possible by rising soil temperatures caused by climate change, said Olaf Schmidt, a biologist at University College Dublin and an author of the study.
"What is really interesting about these worms is that there are about 25 species restricted to a small area in the southwest of France," he said. "None have moved outside this area, and suddenly we found them in a routine survey of farms in Dublin."
The worm's introduction to Ireland was probably a result of human activity; it may have arrived with garden plants being imported to Ireland. Though a newcomer to the island, the worm species, Prosellodrilus amplisetosus, does not appear to be invasive, and is happily coexisting with the 30 other earthworm species already found in Ireland, Schmidt said. "This new worm eats a different carbon and nitrogen fraction in the soil," he said.
"In fact, it could be that they will contribute to the maintenance of the soil structure and nutrients. We will have to see."
The mean yearly temperature in Aquitaine is about five degrees higher than that in Dublin. But globally, temperatures are rising.
Sindya N Bhanoo , New York Times News Service