Abstract
Termites are important ecosystem engineers. Yet they are often difficult to identify due to the lack of reliable species-specific morphological traits for many species, which hampers ecological research. Recently, termitologists working with West African termites (West African Termite Taxonomy Initiative) convened for a workshop with the aim of beginning to address this problem. Repeated determination of the same termite samples by the most renowned taxonomists for West African termites identified the huge scale of the problem, as less than 10% of all species could be unambiguously determined to the species level. Intensive discussions and comparisons increased the identification success to around 25% at the end of the workshop. Yet many groups remained problematic and molecular markers and barcoding techniques combined with species delimitation approaches will be needed to help resolve these existing taxonomic problems. Based on the outcome of this workshop, we propose concerted initiatives to address termite taxonomy on a global scale. We are convinced that dedicated workshops on regional taxonomy that follow a similar structured approach, with repeated determination of the same sample, will help overcome the difficulties that termite taxonomy faces. This initiative can also serve as a blueprint for other taxonomical groups that are difficult to identify.
Highlights
IntroductionTermites ecosystem engineers with with crucialcrucial roles inroles decomposition, soil fertility, Termitesare aremajor major ecosystem engineers in decomposition, soilhydrology, fertility, and species diversity in tropical ecosystems
During a workshop held at the University of Freiburg (Germany) in April 2018, renowned researchers currently working with West African termites convened
We identified major taxonomical problems for West African termites and provided a would be to first develop standardized workshop protocols and subsequently update, combine and comprehensive termite species list for this region
Summary
Termites ecosystem engineers with with crucialcrucial roles inroles decomposition, soil fertility, Termitesare aremajor major ecosystem engineers in decomposition, soilhydrology, fertility, and species diversity in tropical ecosystems West are Africa whereto termites areland, attracted to results degraded land, which in humidity increased and soil plant growth [5] Successful application of this method leads to green savannah with shrubs and trees fertility, humidity and plant growth [5]. Fungus-growing termites (Macrotermitinae), which live in an obligate symbiosis with Termitomyces fungi, have very simplified guts that do not allow for species identification. They are the most common and dominant termites of African savannahs [14,15,16,17,18]. This has been employed successfully in termites (e.g., references [14,21,22]), including the most recently species delimitation approaches [23]
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