TY - JOUR AU - Hellemans, Simon AU - Dolejšová, Klára AU - Křivánek, Jan AU - Fournier, Denis AU - Hanus, Robert AU - Roisin, Yves PY - 2019 DA - 2019/06/21 TI - Widespread occurrence of asexual reproduction in higher termites of the Termes group (Termitidae: Termitinae) JO - BMC Evolutionary Biology SP - 131 VL - 19 IS - 1 AB - A decade ago, the mixed reproductive strategy Asexual Queen Succession (AQS) was first described in termites. In AQS species, the workers, soldiers and dispersing reproductives are produced through sexual reproduction, while non-dispersing (neotenic) queens arise through automictic thelytokous parthenogenesis, replace the founding queen and mate with the founding king. As yet, AQS has been documented in six species from three lineages of lower (Rhinotermitidae) and higher (Termitinae: Termes group and Syntermitinae) termites. Independent evolution of the capacity of thelytoky as a preadaptation to AQS is supported by different mechanisms of automixis in each of the three clades. These pioneering discoveries prompt the question on the extent of thelytoky and AQS in the diversified family of higher termites. SN - 1471-2148 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1459-3 DO - 10.1186/s12862-019-1459-3 ID - Hellemans2019 ER -