Architecture and morphogenesis in the mound （体系结构和形态发生在投手丘）.pdfVIP

Cimbebasia 16: 143-175, 2000 143 Architecture and morphogenesis in the mound of Macrotermes michaelseni (Sjöstedt) (Isoptera: Termitidae, Macrotermitinae) in northern Namibia J Scott Turner Department of Environmental Forest Biology, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science Forestry, Syracuse, New York 13210, U.S.A.; e-mail: jsturner@ The mounds of Macrotermes michaelseni (Sjöstedt) in northern Namibia have a characteristic architecture, being divided into three structurally distinct components: a central cone-shaped mound, topped by a tall, thin spire which tilts northward at an angle similar to the suns average zenith angle, and a broad outwash pediment that results from erosion off the mound. Internally, the mound is permeated by a complex network of tunnels that can be divided into three broad types: a capacious central chimney that extends upward through the center of the mound from the colony up to the apex of the spire; a vertically-biased network of surface conduits that lies roughly one to two cm below the surface, and an interweaving network of lateral tunnels that connect the chimney and surface conduits. A model of mound morphogenesis is proposed which accounts for most of these structural features, and which points toward a general model for the relationship between mound architecture and social homeostasis among the macrotermitine termites. In the case of M. michaelseni, the mound INTRODUCTION itself is not a habitation for the colony. The The mounds of the macrotermitine termites of colony proper, i.e.