linkedin post 2020-10-25 05:06:06

GROOMING SIGNAL. “The sharing of water is usually the culmination of an extensive period of grooming of one termite by another. This is quite an involved ritual, with painstaking manipulation and licking of all parts of the groomed termite’s body, including scrupulous attention to the legs, antennae, and inter-segmental joints. At the end of this extended ritual, the groomer will “beg” from the groomed termite, with the groomer assuming a characteristic subordinate posture as it manipulates the groomed termite’s mouthparts. Sometimes, this elicits the regurgitation of material from the groomed termite’s crop, which the groomer imbibes. Groomers also elicit the excretion of feces from the groomed termite’s anus (trophallaxis), but this is far rarer than oral solicitation.”

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5

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