Inquilinitermes
Genus of termites
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Inquilinitermes is a genus of Neotropical termites described by Anthony G. Mathews [1] that includes species found exclusively inside nests of another termite species (i.g. host termites) in the genus Constrictotermes .[2] For not being able to build their own nest, every species of Inquilinitermes has been commonly referred as an obligatory inquiline and its symbiosis with a host termite has been treated as inquilinism.
| Inquilinitermes | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Blattodea |
| Infraorder: | Isoptera |
| Family: | Termitidae |
| Subfamily: | Termitinae |
| Genus: | Inquilinitermes |
| Type species | |
| Inquilinitermes sp. Mathews, 1977 | |
| Species | |
| |
In the past few decades, species of the genus have been investigated in various studies, focusing on their relationship with the host species,[3][4] their diet requirements [5] and, more recently, behavioral aspects of their symbiosis with the builder termites[6]