Natures wonders: termite queens (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, November 02, 2021, 18:02 (906 days ago) @ David Turell

Strange:

https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2021/10/30/six_ridiculous_facts_about_termite_que...

"1. Termite queens are absolutely ginormous owing to their grotesquely distended abdomens, which hold enlarged ovaries to pump out lots of eggs. While a worker termite might only be several millimeters in length, a queen can measure as long as four inches. She is essentially an immobile, pulsating egg sac with a head.

2. The queen's physical form makes her extremely adept as an egg factory. A termite queen might lay 30,000 eggs a day, and easily over a hundred million in her lifetime. Each one is dutifully scooped up and carried off to nurseries and groomed by worker termites.

3. Termite queens have the longest known lifespan of any insect. They are known to live thirty to fifty years, longer than most chimpanzees.

4. The queen has a lifelong consort – a "king". Together, they start out as winged "alates" – termites that can reproduce – and fly off to start a colony. When they find a suitable location, they shed their wings and start to mate. They continue to do so exclusively until the queen dies. Unlike the queen, which quickly enlarges, the king remains about the size of a worker termite for his entire existence.

5. When a queen nears the end of her life, her attendants will gather around and lick her, imbibing the nutritious fluids and fats from her body. It's possible that this process is actually what finally kills a termite queen.

6. A termite queen's subjects aren't the only creatures that partake of her flesh, humans do, too. Queens are considered delicacies in many parts of the world, owing to their rarity and rich, fatty flavor. Danish documentarian Andreas Johnsen sampled one and said it tasted like foie gras."

Comment: All part of necessary ecosystems.