Autothysis is the process where an animal destroys itself via an internal rupturing or explosion of an organ which ruptures the skin. The term was proposed by Maschwitz and Maschwitz in 1974 to describe the defensive mechanism of the
carpenter antCarpenter ants are large ants indigenous to many parts of the world. They prefer dead, damp wood in which to build nests. Sometimes carpenter ants will hollow out sections of trees. The most likely species to be infesting a house in the United States is the Black carpenter ant, Camponotus...
,
Camponotus saundersi. It is caused by a contraction of muscles around a large gland that leads to the wall of gland breaking. Some termites (such as the soldiers of
Globitermes sulphureusGlobitermes sulphureus is a species of termite that is very common in Central and Southern Vietnam and also present in other areas of South East Asia, including Malaysia. They live in nests made of earth that can be up to 1.5m tall and can contain tens of thousands of individuals...
) release a sticky secretion by rupturing a gland near the skin of their neck, producing a
tar babyTar-Baby was a doll made of tar and turpentine, used to entrap Br'er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fought the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by...
effect in defense against ants.
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Autothysis is the process where an animal destroys itself via an internal rupturing or explosion of an organ which ruptures the skin. The term was proposed by Maschwitz and Maschwitz in 1974 to describe the defensive mechanism of the
carpenter antCarpenter ants are large ants indigenous to many parts of the world. They prefer dead, damp wood in which to build nests. Sometimes carpenter ants will hollow out sections of trees. The most likely species to be infesting a house in the United States is the Black carpenter ant, Camponotus...
,
Camponotus saundersi. It is caused by a contraction of muscles around a large gland that leads to the wall of gland breaking. Some termites (such as the soldiers of
Globitermes sulphureusGlobitermes sulphureus is a species of termite that is very common in Central and Southern Vietnam and also present in other areas of South East Asia, including Malaysia. They live in nests made of earth that can be up to 1.5m tall and can contain tens of thousands of individuals...
) release a sticky secretion by rupturing a gland near the skin of their neck, producing a
tar babyTar-Baby was a doll made of tar and turpentine, used to entrap Br'er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fought the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by...
effect in defense against ants. It is a form of suicidal
altruismAltruism is a well-documented animal behaviour, which appears most obviously in kin relationships but may also be evident amongst wider social groups....
.
Groups of termite whose soldiers have been found to use autothysis to defend their colonies include:
Serritermes serrifer,
Dentispicotermes,
Genuotermes and
Orthognathotermes. Several species of the soldierless Apicotermitinae, for example those of the
Grigiotermes and
Ruptitermes genuses, have workers that can also use autothysis. This is thought to be one of the most effective forms of defense that termites possess as the ruptured workers block the tunnels running into the nest and it causes a one to one exchange between attackers and defenders, meaning attacks have a high energy cost to predators.