merismo:A lot of biology-lovers unfortunately see termites as less-cool versions of ants (don&rsqu
merismo: A lot of biology-lovers unfortunately see termites as less-cool versions of ants (don’t get me started) but termite microbiomes are at least 30.5 times cooler than those of ants. At least. Opening up a hindgut of a termite reveals an unbelievable number of bizarre single-celled organisms, most of which have yet to be named or described by science. What’s more, different species of termites can have radically different microbiomes. Two colonies of termites living in one log can have symbiotic microbes that are literally tens of millions of years apart in evolution (and in some cases, the termites themselves are only separated by a few million years of evolution). In my totally-unbiased opinion, this is one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in biology. What purpose do all of these different microbes have? Why is there so much microbial diversity among termites? Why don’t they all just have the same set of microbes? The more you look into it, the more questions are raised. Also if you have termites in your house you should totally ship them to me cause LOVE termites (Click on the images for a quick description. Also, please do not repost these photos. They belong to me and my lab and may be used in some of my future publications. Thank you!) -- source link