PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hannah E. Davis
AU  - Stefania Meconcelli
AU  - Renate Radek
AU  - Dino P. McMahon
TI  - When to care and when to kill: termites shape their collective response based on stage of infection
AID  - 10.1101/287441
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 287441
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/03/27/287441.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/03/27/287441.full
AB  - Termites defend their colonies from disease using an array of social behaviours, including allogrooming, cannibalism, and burial. We tested how groups of eastern subterranean termites (Reticulitermes flavipes) deploy these behaviours when presented with a nestmate at different stages of infection with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. As expected, the termites groomed pathogen-exposed individuals significantly more than mock-treated controls; however, grooming levels were significantly higher after spore germination than before. Cannibalism became prevalent only after exposed termites became visibly ill, and burial was rarely observed. These results demonstrate that termites employ different strategies depending on the stage of infection that they encounter. Grooming intensity is linked not only to pathogen presence, but also to germination status, and, given the temporal correlation between cannibalism and visible signs of illness, the host may play a role in triggering its own sacrifice.