@article{oai:oist.repo.nii.ac.jp:00000435,
 author = {Scheffrahn, R. H. and Bourguignon, T. and Bordereau, C. and Hernandez-Aguilar, R. A. and Oelze, V. M. and Dieguez, P. and Šobotnik, J. and Pascual-Garrido, A.},
 issue = {4},
 journal = {Insectes Sociaux},
 month = {Jul},
 note = {Previous observations have noted that in some species of higher termites the soldier caste lacks pigmented particles in its gut and, instead, is fed worker saliva that imparts a whitish coloration to the abdomen. In order to investigate the occurrence of this trait more thoroughly, we surveyed a broad diversity of termite specimens and taxonomic descriptions from the Old World subfamilies Apicotermitinae, Cubitermitinae, Foraminitermitinae, Macrotermitinae, and Termitinae. We identified 38 genera that have this “white-gutted” soldier (WGS) trait. No termite soldiers from the New World were found to possess a WGS caste. Externally, the WGS is characterized by a uniformly pale abdomen, hyaline gut, and proportionally smaller body-to-head volume ratio compared with their “dark-gutted” soldier (DGS) counterparts found in most termitid genera. The WGS is a fully formed soldier that, unlike soldiers in other higher termite taxa, has a small, narrow, and decompartmentalized digestive tube that lacks particulate food contents. The presumed saliva-nourished WGS have various forms of simplified gut morphologies that have evolved at least six times within the higher termites.},
 pages = {525--533},
 title = {White-gutted soldiers: simplification of the digestive tube for a non-particulate diet in higher Old World termites (Isoptera: Termitidae)},
 volume = {64},
 year = {2017}
}