title: Spirochete and protist symbionts of a termite (Mastotermes electrodominicus) in Miocene amber.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wier
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dolan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grimaldi
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guerrero
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wagensberg
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Margulis
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D018647:Amber