Spirochete and protist symbionts of a termite (Mastotermes electrodominicus) in Miocene amber.
Extraordinary preservation in amber of the Miocene termite Mastotermes electrodominicus has led to the discovery of fossil symbiotic microbes. Spirochete bacteria and wood-digesting protists were identified in the intestinal tissue of the insect. Fossil wood (xylem: developing vessel-element cells, fibers, pit connections), protists (most likely xylophagic amitochondriates), an endospore (probably of the filamentous intestinal bacterium Arthromitus = Bacillus), and large spirochetes were seen in thin section by light and transmission electron microscopy. The intestinal microbiota of the living termite Mastotermes darwiniensis, a genus now restricted to northern Australia, markedly resembles that preserved in amber. This is a direct observation of a 20-million-year-old xylophagus termite fossil microbial community.
Wier
Andrew
A
Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Dolan
Michael
M
Grimaldi
David
D
Guerrero
Ricardo
R
Wagensberg
Jorge
J
Margulis
Lynn
L
D018647:Amber; D000818:Animals; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000502:physiology; D005580:Fossils; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000502:physiology; D020049:Isoptera / Q000145:classification* / Q000382:microbiology; D013559:Symbiosis
D018647:Amber